Brookfield’s sale of its 50% stake in PD Ports is close to launching with Peel Ports, which has selected Rothschild as its financial advisor, as a strong contender, sources said.

Others said to be running the rule over the stake include Universities Superannuation Scheme, which has owned a stake in the Virginia International Gateway container terminal at the Port of Virginia for over a decade and is on the hunt for a multi-port business in the UK, according to the sources.

Igneo Infrastructure Partners is also said by the sources to be mulling an offer, while Infralogic previously reported that CKI, EQT Infrastructure and Macquarie Asset Management are also considering filing bids.

The stake might fetch an enterprise value of some GBP 900m based on PD’s 2024 EBITDA of around GBP 90m and recent sector multiples of some 20 times, sources said.

The sources expect the sale to launch with the issuance of IMs in the next week or so, after an originally planned launch of early February. Teasers were issued in December.

PD Ports owns nine freehold terminals including Teesport in north east England, five in central England, one at Felixstowe and one near London, as well as a terminal on the Isle of Wight.

Unlike east coast-focused PD, GIP- and AustralianSuper-backed Peel Ports has a strong presence on England’s west coast with terminals at Liverpool and the Manchester Ship Canal – although it does own two terminals in central England at Greater Yarmouth and also the Humber bulk terminal, suggesting potential synergies with PD.

But one sector expert said Peel’s main driver for buying the stake would be largely to grow its current business, adding the two port businesses are “pretty much independent of each other in terms of customers and cargo”.

PD’s main clients at its Teesport terminal, which provides some 90% of its EBITDA, are largely connected to the energy industry such as fuel supplier Greenergy, EDF Energy, Ineos and Sembcorp.

Any investor in PD Ports will have to take a view on the impact of the expected long-term downward trend of oil and gas – and also how well positioned the operator is to take advantage of the energy transition sector.

Although Teesport has been impacted by the local closure of one of its key clients, British Steel, it is adjacent to oil giant-backed Northern Endurance Partnership, which recently raised billions of pounds to develop infrastructure for transporting CO2 across Teesside and the nearby Humber region to be stored under the North Sea.

Besides handling liquid and dry bulk, it also owns over 2,400 acres of freehold land around the port estate, with its weighted average lease life of over 20 years and most of the land leased. Such diversified revenue streams potentially make it an attractive proposition to some investors.

Brookfield, Igneo, USS, Peel Ports and Rothschild declined to comment.