THE Dubai government has unveiled plans to sell a 20 per cent stake in DP World, the company that controls Southampton Container Terminals.

In what is expected to be the Middle East's largest ever initial public offering, the 20 per cent stake is expected to value the business at as much as £10 billion.

DP World has grown rapidly in a combination of mergers and acquisitions. It joined forces with Dubai Ports Authority in 2005 and bought P&O in 2006 for £3.3 billion.

The P&O deal saw it become a major player in Southampton with a 51 per cent stake in the lucrative container port. Docks owner Associated British Ports holds the remaining 49 per cent and owns the land it sits on.

Earlier plans for a secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange, where P&O used to trade, have been abandoned in favour of a solitary listing on the fledgling Dubai Inter-national Financial Exchange.

Southampton container terminal is the second biggest in the UK, employs around 800 people and handles 45 per cent of Britain's trade with the Far East.

The world's fourth largest port operator, DP World has never before published financial figures but released details of its business this week.

Pre-tax profits for 2006 of around £350m were generated on the back of a turnover of a little over £1billion. The first half of this year has produced pre-tax profits of £226m on business of £600m.

DP World chairman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem said: "Today marks another step in the development of DP World from a local, to a regional, to a global player."

Mohammed Sharaf, the chief executive of DP World, said the company is aiming to continue its history of rapid expansion.

"Today we are in 22 countries with 42 terminals. In ten years' time we expect to have nearly doubled last year's capacity."

Mr Sharaf said the company had a number of new terminal developments in the pipeline, including the London Gateway, a £1.5 billion project to build a deep water container port on the site of a former oil refinery.

The float would not mean a change of culture at DP World, he said. "We believe we have all the best practices in the organisation," he said. "The only change is that greater transparency will come about.

"That will show we are running a global organisation with the best practices. The company's management has been running the business successfully for a long time and we will continue doing that."