The Macquarie consortium’s decision to withdraw leaves the way clear for Admiral Acquisitions UK Ltd, a Goldman Sachs-led consortium which has already had its £2.8bn bid accepted by ABP’s directors.
The Macquarie consortium, led by Australian bank Macquarie, was granted access to ABP’s books after it declared it was considering making a bid for the ports operator.
ABP Holdings will hold an extraordinary general meeting on July 18 for shareholders to vote on the Admiral proposal.
ABP terminals arround the UK account for a large proportion of the UK’s timber imports.
