Dubai Ports operator’s UK expansion on hold over Brexit
The UK voted to leave the European Union in 2016
Dubai Ports operator DP World Plc put its expansion plan in the UK on hold due to uncertainties over Brexit.
“I have a deal to expand, but on hold until they decide,” Chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem said in an interview with Bloomberg TV in Riyadh. “Because today if you go to any bank to lend you money in the UK, they don’t know are we going to be out or in.”
The UK voted to leave the European Union in 2016, yet remains trapped in a long-term relationship with the trading bloc as two prime ministers have found it difficult to have divorce deals approved by parliament.
DP World, one of the world’s biggest ports operator, has invested more than £1.5 billion (Dh7.1 billion) in the UK until now, including in the London Gateway port and logistics park, Sulayem said.