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Packet owners eye Channel Islands

Steam Packet owners Macquarie are at it again, this time in the Channel Islands.

The Australian bank is thought to be preparing a bid for Condor Ferries, the Channel Islands ferry operator.

The company is being sold off by the Royal Bank of Scotland and should fetch in the region of £300 million.

Condor operates catamarans from Poole and Weymouth and conventional ferries from Portsmouth, and earns as much as £30 million a year.

Macquarie already owns Wightlink ferries as well as the Steam Packet but may face competition from the Prudential and Babcock & Brown, as well as JP Morgan's infrastructure fund.

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