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Investors express interest in PD Ports stake
2009/3/4
PD Ports'' Australian parent has said it is open to offers for the company, as it flagged an uncertain trading outlook.
Turnover in the first six months fell four percent at PD Ports as container shipping and its chemicals business became the first to feel the effects of the downturn.
Commenting on Sydney-based Babcock & Brown Infrastructure''s interim results, Russell Smith, chief operating officer responsible for transport, told the Evening Gazette, said he "would not want to forecast where we will be at the end of the year", but he anticipated that container volumes would continue to fall as consumer spending took a hammering.
"Across the board – the US, Europe and even China – container volumes are seeing a fairly sharp decline," he said, which would delay, but not halt, plans for Teesport''s US$421 million deep-sea container terminal, which had been due to open in 2011.
Smith confirmed BBI, which should complete the disposal of nearly 30 percent of its Euroports business next month, had already received expressions of interest from unnamed investment sources in acquiring all or part of PD Ports. But these had not progressed to substantive talks.
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2009/3/5