Dubai Ports offered 443 pence per share in an all-cash bid for P&O, a 165-year-old maritime icon formed at the height of Britain's sea power, as part of an ambitious expansion strategy for Asia and Europe. The Gulf company's offer price was a 46 percent premium to P&O's trading price before October 30 when P&O confirmed it had been approached by a potential bidder.
P&O shares were up 0.7 percent at 438 pence at 1404 GMT. The deal follows a string of recent take-overs of major British companies. It is also the latest big purchase by Dubai-government-linked firms scouring the globe for assets to invest the Gulf emirate's mountain of oil cash.
The Dubai Ports-P&O operation will be the world's third-largest ports operator after Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa at No 1 and Singapore government investment agency Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd in second place, it said.
P&O would remain headquartered in London, and Chief Executive Robert Wood would stay on as chief, he said.