Ports formerly owned by rail and canal companies were nationalised in 1947 by
Clement Attlee's post Second World War
Attlee government, forming part of the operations of the
British Transport Commission. The commission was split in 1962 by the
Transport Act 1962; the
British Transport Docks Board (BTDB) was formed in 1962 as a government-owned body to manage various ports throughout
Great Britain. In 1981 the
Conservative government of
Margaret Thatcher implemented the
Transport Act 1981, which provided for the BTDB's privatisation. Because of BTDB's statutory powers as a harbour operator, a straightforward conversion to limited company status was impractical. Instead, BTDB was renamed as Associated British Ports (ABP) and a limited company, Associated British Ports Holdings Ltd. (ABPH), was created, with the same powers in law over ABP as a holding company has over a subsidiary. In 1983 the British Government allowed the company to become a
public limited company quoted on the
London Stock Exchange. The company was taken over by a consortium of companies in 2006 and, in August of that year, the company was
delisted from the London Stock Exchange. In 2002 ABP bought
Hams Hall Distribution Park in the West Midlands from
E.ON. In 2006 a consortium led by
Goldman Sachs offered £2.795 billion for the company.
Englishman from Associated British Ports at the celebrations of the
Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II on 4 June 2012 at the
Humber Bridge From 2006 until 2015, the company was owned by a consortium consisting of
GS Infrastructure Partners,
Borealis Infrastructure,
GIC and
Prudential. In March 2015, Anchorage Ports, an investment consortium led by the
CPP Investments and
Hermes Infrastructure, acquired a 33% interest in the business. The
Kuwait Investment Authority purchased a 10% interest in the company. As a result of these transactions the shareholdings in the group holding company as of 2015 were: Borealis Infrastructure (33%), Anchorage Ports (33%), Cheyne GIC (23%) and the Kuwait Investment Authority (10%). ==Ports==