IFM Investors to buy majority stake in Associated British Ports in £10bn deal

Australia's IFM Investors has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Associated British Ports (ABP), valuing the UK ports operator at around £10bn and displacing a potential bid from Indian billionaire Gautam Adani. The deal, announced Wednesday, sees IFM purchase a 34% stake from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and a 30% holding controlled by the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System. IFM, which manages about £157bn in assets and is controlled by 15 Australian pension funds alongside Britain's Nest, cited ABP's "strategically located assets serving some of the country's most important trade and industrial regions." ABP's 19 ports, including Immingham and Southampton, handle a quarter of UK seaborne trade worth some £150bn annually and provide dockside bases for more than half the country's offshore wind turbines. Minority stakes will remain with Singaporean and Kuwaiti sovereign wealth funds and UK investor Hermes. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of next year, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. Financial terms were not disclosed.