Consortium to bid for Hapag-Lloyd

A group of investors that includes the government of Hamburg, the investment bank M.M. Warburg, and Klaus-Michael Kuehne, chairman of the logistics company Kuehne & Nagel, have announced plans to bid for Hapag-Lloyd, the world's fifth-largest container shipping company. 

The Financial Times reports that Hamburg said it would provide 20 percent of the 1 million euro ($1.6 million) seed capital for a vehicle to manage a Hamburg-based bid for the line.

TUI Group, the German tour operator that owns Hapag-Lloyd, has announced plans to separate the container-shipping business from its core tourism business.

Michael Freytag, Hamburg's finance senator, said the city wanted to keep shipowners in Hamburg.

Warburg and Kuehne had indicated their interest in a possible bid for Hapag-Lloyd earlier this year. Kuehne's bid is separate from the activities of the forwarding firm Kuehne + Nagel, said a company spokesman.

Neptune Orient Lines, COSCO, A.P. Moller - Maersk, Orient Overseas International, and Hamburg Sud have all been mentioned as possible bidders for the company.

Another possible bidder is shipping tycoon John Fredriksen, who owned more than 11 percent of the company and earlier this month lost a bid to oust TUI Chairman Juergen Krumnow and gain two seats on the TUI board. 

Source: American Shipper