Counter bids received by Virginia

The latest bids are reported to be from the Washington-based private equity group Carlyle Group, which has outlined a proposal worth between US$1.78bn and US$2.1bn, and a similar bid worth an estimated US$3.3bn from RREEF, the real estate investment arm of Deutsche Bank.

The deadline for submissions for alternative proposals to that of APMT was extended to August 13 by the Commonwealth of Virginia in July this year, following objections from shippers and other shipping lines to the potential ‘monopoly’ that APMT and its parent Maersk could have on container operations.

The Virginia Port Authority is now considering all submissions to see whether or not to advance one or more or none of them to take over the operations of Virginia International Terminals.