DP World to IPO in Dubai Exchange

DP World of Dubai to Make an Initial Offering

(Dealbook, Oct 22) DP World confirmed Sunday that it will sell 20 percent of its shares, worth at least $3.5 billion, next month in what will be the Middle East’s largest initial public offering.

The sale of shares in the Dubai government-owned company is expected to usher in a series of billion-dollar initial public offerings, as the ruling Maktoum family of Dubai sells off stakes in its business empire, which spans fields like air transportation, real estate and banking.

DP World became the world’s third-largest port company after its acquisition of the British-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company for $6.8 billion in 2006. Political opposition in the United States forced DP World to sell terminals it had acquired in America through the purchase.

The initial offering will be the biggest to be tried in the Middle East, beating the $2.7 billion share sale of the Saudi Telecommunications Company in 2002 and the $1.8 billion offering by the Saudi Kayan Petrochemicals Company this year.

The issue will open for retail buyers on Nov. 4, closing on Nov. 15. Institutional investors will be able to bid for shares up to Nov. 21. The initial offering is intended as a book-building issue, which allows the market to determine the price, within a range.

The listing could invigorate the Dubai International Financial Exchange, known as DIFX, which has struggled to attract interest since the exchange was started in 2005 as part of a plan to make Dubai a financial center to rival Hong Kong, New York and London.

“DP World is definitely an anchor listing, and so will help attract more anchor listings and will also allow smaller companies to increase their visibility on the DIFX,” Per E. Larsson, chief executive of Borse Dubai, the parent of the exchange, told reporters.

DIFX will be rebranded as Nasdaq DIFX after it and the Nasdaq Stock Market entered into a complex ownership deal last month in a bidding war for the Nordic exchange operator OMX.

Babcock buys bulk cargo port operator in Italy

Babcock Infrastructure Acquires Italian Port Operator (Update1)
By Angela Macdonald-Smith

Aug. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Babcock & Brown Infrastructure Group, an Australian owner of ports, gas and power lines, bought a majority stake in Terminal Rinfuse Italia SpA for A$92 million ($79 million), its fourth port acquisition in 18 months.

The acquisition of the 50.3 percent stake in Italy's largest dry bulk port operator, known as TRI, will immediately add to cash flows, Sydney-based Babcock & Brown Infrastructure, or BBI, said today in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange.

Babcock Infrastructure, managed by investment bank Babcock & Brown Ltd., said in May it was in exclusive talks to buy controlling interests in a range of ports in Europe, building on acquisitions in the U.K. and Spain. Terminal Rinfuse operates at Genoa, Savona and Venice ports and handles about 8 million metric tons a year of products, of which about half are coal and coke.

``TRI presents BBI with the ability to acquire a significant share in the Italian dry bulk terminal market while at the same time further strengthening its position in the strategic northern Mediterranean bulk port sector,'' the company said in the statement.

The transaction involves Babcock Infrastructure acquiring 80 percent of Estate SpA, which controls 62.9 percent of Terminal Rinfuse. Terminal Rinfuse had 2006 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of 14.2 million euros ($20 million) and the acquisition price equates to a valuation for the company, including debt, of 139 million euros, Babcock Infrastructure said.

Babcock Infrastructure bought a majority stake in Tarragona Port Services in May and last month acquired most of Belgium's Manuport Group.