Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (Apsez), the Adani group company that controls India’s largest private port network, is said to be assessing the acquisition of the controlling stake in Associated British Ports (ABP), the UK’s largest port operator by traffic. No formal proposal has yet been submitted: according to Indian and British financial media reports, this remains an exploratory phase triggered by the decision of the Canadian pension funds Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (Cppib) and Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (Omers) to sell their stakes in ABP, for a combined value estimated at more than £10 billion, or about €11.7 billion.
News of Adani’s interest was first reported by Moneycontrol on 29 July 2026 and was picked up in the following days by the Financial Times, Economic Times and Telegraph. In early August, trade publications WorldCargo News and Container News confirmed that Apsez is “assessing” a bid, noting that the discussions remain at a preliminary stage. A company spokesperson said Apsez does not comment on market speculation, while “continuously assessing opportunities that are consistent with its long-term strategy”. If the process were to result in an offer, any agreement would not come, according to the sources cited, before the second half of the year.
The process to sell the Canadian stakes began in early February 2026, when Cppib and Omers appointed Morgan Stanley to structure the sale of their respective holdings. Cppib holds 33.9% of ABP and Omers 30%, giving them a combined stake of 63.9%, according to the British company’s 2025 accounts. The remaining holdings are held by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Gic, with 20%, Wren House Infrastructure, a vehicle of the Kuwait Investment Authority, with 10%, and Hermes Infrastructure, with 6.1%. ABP was acquired in 2006 by a consortium led by Goldman Sachs for £2.8 billion, or about €3.3 billion, while Cppib joined the shareholder base in 2015.
Associated British Ports operates 21 ports in England, Scotland and Wales, including Southampton, Immingham and the Humber area, handling about a quarter of the UK’s maritime traffic across containers, automotive, bulk cargo, cruises and project cargo. In 2025, the network handled 42.5 million tonnes of bulk cargo and 3.1 million units of unitised cargo, generating revenue of £819.8 million, or about €956.3 million, and operating profit of £586.5 million, or about €684.3 million. The group’s Ebitda rose to £473.7 million, or about €552.6 million, from £430.1 million the previous year. Some ports in the network also serve as logistics bases for the construction and maintenance of offshore wind farms in the North Sea.
Apsez has set a target of reaching one billion tonnes of handling capacity by 2030 and becoming the world’s leading transport utility by 2031. The group’s international network already includes terminals in Australia, Sri Lanka and Tanzania, as well as a stake in the Israeli port of Haifa, acquired together with the Gadot group for about $1.18 billion, or about €1.02 billion. A potential acquisition of ABP would be the largest international transaction ever carried out by the Indian group, giving it a direct presence in about a quarter of British maritime traffic and in high-value segments such as automotive, energy and offshore wind.
Apsez is not, however, the only party to have shown interest in the stake for sale. Financial sources cite Dubai operator DP World, funds Kkr, Brookfield and Global Infrastructure Partners, the latter controlled by BlackRock, among the potential buyers, alongside, according to more recent reports, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Stonepeak and British Columbia Investment Management. The number of parties involved points to a potentially competitive process for an asset that analysts describe as rare in the long-term regulated infrastructure market, with 2025 Ebitda implying, at the valuation sought by the sellers, a multiple of more than 20 times.
A change of control of this scale would fall within the scope of the National Security and Investment Act 2021 (Nsi Act), the UK legislation that subjects acquisitions of critical infrastructure to government review, alongside any possible antitrust assessment depending on the final size of the transaction. Cppib, Omers, Hermes Infrastructure, Morgan Stanley and ABP have all declined to comment on the reports published by the financial press.
Antonio Illariuzzi
