Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ABUDHABI3871
2006-10-04 08:03:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Abu Dhabi
Cable title:  

DP WORLD VP ON STRATEGY MOVING FORWARD

Tags:  EWWT EINV PREL ETRD EFIN AE 
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DE RUEHAD #3871/01 2770803
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O 040803Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7216
INFO RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 003871 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EB/IFD/OIA AND NEA/ARP
STATE PASS USTR FOR SHAUN DONNELLY AND DOUG BELL
TREASURY FOR DEPSEC KIMMITT AND A/S LOWREY

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/03/2016
TAGS: EWWT EINV PREL ETRD EFIN AE
SUBJECT: DP WORLD VP ON STRATEGY MOVING FORWARD

Classified By: Ambassador Michel J. Sison for reasons 1.4 (b & d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 003871

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EB/IFD/OIA AND NEA/ARP
STATE PASS USTR FOR SHAUN DONNELLY AND DOUG BELL
TREASURY FOR DEPSEC KIMMITT AND A/S LOWREY

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/03/2016
TAGS: EWWT EINV PREL ETRD EFIN AE
SUBJECT: DP WORLD VP ON STRATEGY MOVING FORWARD

Classified By: Ambassador Michel J. Sison for reasons 1.4 (b & d).


1. (C) Summary: On October 2, DP World Senior Vice President
(Commercial) Michael Moore told Ambassador that the company
planned to conduct an Initial Public Offering (IPO) though
the time frame had not been finalized. He confirmed that the
five short-listed candidates to buy its U.S. assets were
carefully scrutinizing the financial and other data and that
he remained hopeful that the sale would be concluded by
November. He said that DP World CEO Mohamed Sharaf would be
visiting Washington from November 13-16 to attend a GE summit
of global transportation executives and would be seeking
meetings with administration officials, members of Congress,
the press, and other opinion shapers. Moore stressed DP
World's interest in working as an active partner with the
U.S. in improving port and container security and noted that
DP World was the first global marine terminal operator to
gain the ISO/PAS 28000 certification for its security
management system. End Summary.


2. (C) On October 2, DP World Senior Vice President
(Commercial) Michael Moore briefed Ambassador and Econchief
on DP World's strategy for engaging with the U.S., the status
of DP World's sale of its U.S. assets, and an upcoming
November visit of CEO Mohammed Sharaf. He stressed that DP
World's long term goal would be to reenter the U.S. market on
a commercial basis, and that the strategy was designed to
help achieve that goal.

IPO in the Offing?
--------------


3. (C) Moore told Ambassador that DP World planned to conduct
an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of some portion of the
company. He said that the public shares would likely be
listed on the Dubai International Financial Exchange, with a
secondary listing in London. Moore emphasized that the
decision had not been made public and that there had been no

final decision on the timing of the IPO. Moore confided that
he believed that the IPO would likely be early in 2007,
though he declined to say how much of the company would go
public.

Progress on the Sale
--------------


4. (C) Moore briefly discussed the ongoing sale of DP World's
U.S. assets. He explained that there were still five
short-listed bidders, all of whom had received a management
presentation and were analyzing the data. He said that he
still hoped that the sale would be completed by November, but
noted that none of the bidders were "industry players" (i.e.,
port operators),and were therefore scrutinizing the numbers
closely. Moore added that the U.S. trend appeared to be to
have infrastructure funds looking at port management rather
than large port operators like Maersk. As a result, he
added, the investors were not as likely to invest in the
long-term development of the ports, since they operated on
"different business model." In contrast DP World is
investing hundreds of millions of dollars in upgrading and
expanding capacity.

DP World's Engagement Strategy
--------------


5. (C) Moore admitted that DP World had been caught by
surprise at the reaction to its purchase of P&O's U.S. assets
and had not done the outreach it needed to do in a timely
fashion. Moving forward, he noted, DP World wanted to do a
better job of outreach to media, Congress, the
Administration, and key opinion makers. He said that DP
World CEO Mohammed Sharaf would be visiting Washington from
November 13-16 as part of DP World's outreach strategy.
Sharaf would participate in a GE Conference on the 14th with
35 other senior global transport executives. On November 15
and 16, Moore said, DP World would be seeking meetings with
key administration officials -- including Secretary of
Treasury Paulson and Secretary of Homeland Security Chertoff.
Moore had already scheduled a meeting with Senator Warner
(R-VA) and would also be seeking meetings with other members
of the House and Senate. In addition, Moore said that Sharaf
would be meeting with the editorial boards of major papers
such as the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal to
make DP World's case.


6. (C) Moore stressed that DP World had already taken a
number of steps to help improve security at its operations

ABU DHABI 00003871 002 OF 002


and wanted to be an active partner in security with the U.S.
He explained that DP World was the 4th largest port company
in the world in terms of volume (behind Hutchison, APM
Terminals, and PSA),but in terms of the number of terminals
managed (45),it was the largest and the most globally
diversified. In addition, DP World was expanding rapidly.
In less than seven years, he stressed, DP World would be 70%
bigger than it currently is. The U.S. would need to work
with DP World and visa versa. Moore explained that DP World
was already a major participant in the Container Security
Initiative, with 14 of its ports under CSI and added that the
company had agreed to a U.S. request to expand CSI programs
at Qasim, Pakistan and Pusan, South Korea on an expedited
basis.


7. (C) Moore told Ambassador that DP world was the first
global marine terminal operator to gain the ISO/PAS 28000
international certification for its security management
system, when the head office and the Djibouti Container
terminal were certified on September 7. The major U.S.
ports, he noted, were not looking to achieve the
certification until 2008. Moore said that DP World was
looking at certifying 14 additional ports on an expedited
basis, giving priority to ports "important to the U.S."
including Pusan, South Korea, Southampton, UK and ports in
China. DP World would continue to make the point that it
preferred to work as an active partner with the U.S. on
security, rather than just meeting U.S. legal requirements.
SISON