Technically speaking, you may actually be right about that. The deal was formally announced on Tuesday, November 29, 2005 -- and I first read about it in the December 5th issue of The Journal of Commerce (which probably would have reached my desk on Friday, December 2nd).
Some details of the article are as follows:
Scaling New Heights
Acquisition of P&O puts Dubai Ports World in the Top Echelon of Global Terminal Operators
The author of the article is Peter T. Leach, and the article appears on page 32 of that issue of the JOC. I hope this evidence is sufficient to convince you that this story is "old news" to some of us. In case you haven't figured it out by now -- I just pulled this off my magazine rack and I'm reading it at my desk as I type this message.
There are two key points about this article that stand out right now, in light of the idiocy we've been seeing over the last week from people in the media and in government . . .
1. There is absolutely no mention of the U.S. regulatory process that would be required, which leads me to believe that the process is much more of a mere formality than most of us seem to think.
2. The U.S. angle to the acquisition isn't a major element of the story. From an industry standpoint, the most highly-prized assets in the deal are the P&O operations in Australia, India, and Europe.
It's not surprising that it wasn't mentioned. The Foreign Investment Committee which approved this deal is pretty much of a rubber stamp. I saw on CNN last night that of some 1500 deals they have reviewed since the law was created that they have approved all but ONE. The last controversial one which they approved was for the acquisition of UNICAL Oil by the Communist Chinese. That also rightly raised a hue and cry in the Congress and the public. Apparently this Committee has never seen a strategic asset that they are not willing to sell to an enemy.