PSA unlikely to break P&O if it wins bid

SINGAPORE - Singapore's state-owned ports group, PSA International, is unlikely to break up P&O should it succeed in a battle to take over the British ports and ferries firm, a Singapore newspaper reported today.

The Business Times cited unidentified people close to the deal who said it was "too simplistic" to think that PSA -- owned by the Singapore government's investment arm Temasek -- would buy P&O only to break it up.

PSA made a £3.5 billion ($9 billion) approach for London-based P&O last Tuesday, trumping an agreed £3.3 billion agreed offer from state-back Dubai Ports World. PSA has yet to decide whether to go ahead with a full bid.

Britain's Sunday Telegraph reported over the weekend that PSA had approached a number of rival port operators about selling them P&O assets and said the Singapore group had tentative agreements with Denmark's AP Moeller and International Container Terminal Services of the Philippines.

It is also thought to have held talks with APM Terminals, which is interested in P&O's Indian and Chinese assets.

PSA faces possible regulatory hurdles in a takeover of P&O, and analysts have predicted it may be forced to sell some assets in the Dutch port of Antwerp if it were to buy P&O.

- REUTERS