NEXT SCANDAL: "Still In The Shadows: DP World"

[elehhhhna]

Kathy Gill
Thursday November 9, 2006

Still In The Shadows: DP World

In February, the Bush Administration approved the sale of a UK-based firm, which operates at least 20 US port facilities, to a United Arab Emirates firm, DP World. The proposal generated a firestorm of protest, resulting in the decision to find a domestic buyer for US operations.

It's nine months later ... and the US facilities remain under the control of DP World, despite a March announcement that they would be sold.

In August, The Business (London) reports that a French firm, the third largest in the world, is "planning an audacious bid for P&O’s ports in the United States."

The French firm, CMA CGM, would be a junior partner with investment bank Morgan Stanley.

The next mention is in September, when the Financial Times reported that Morgan Stanley (an investor), the Carlyle Group (an investor) and privately-held SSA Marine (the largest US container terminal operator) were among the final bidders in phase two of the sale.

The former P&O assets are among the largest blocks of port assets to have come up for sale in the US in recent years, although the US port assets of Hong Kong's Orient Overseas Container Line are also now up for sale. It's November ... and there's no more recent mention in Google news, Lexis-Nexis, or the Financial Times. Do you know what's up with this deal?


http://uspolitics.about.com/b/a/207926.htm

[elehhhhna]

1. The freeps will go bughouse insane over this. Anybody

have posting priv. there? hint hint.

[elehhhhna]

2. dupe/del.

[MetaTrope]

3. Maybe it's an intelligence plan

Could the Bush admin be trying to get the owner of DPW to tell us where his hunting buddy Osama bin Laden is?

Ah, okay.

[elehhhhna]

4. Is the Bush Family going to buy them at fire-sale prices, in partnership

w/ DUBAI?!! Dubai/UAE recently bought a large position in--wait for it--CARLYLE.


Don't forget Congress recently passed (& Bush signed) a massively expensive Port Security bill, while ignoring rail security entirely.


Hmmm.

[elehhhhna]

5. kick for the annual sale of our PORTS.