NOL, Hamburg consortium vie for Hapag-Lloyd

Neptune Orient Lines said today it has made an indicative non-binding offer for Hapag-Lloyd, following months of speculation that it will make a move for the German container shipping line owned by TUI AG.

However, the Singapore-based parent of APL faces stiff competition from a group of Hamburg investors determined to keep Hapag-Lloyd in German hands. The investor group, backed financially by Kuehne + Nagel Chairman Klaus-Michael Kuehne, tabled an earlier bid ahead of Monday's preliminary bid submission deadline.

A completed transaction would result in the integration of NOL's container shipping business APL with Hapag-Lloyd, NOL said in a statement. It is at this stage premature to state whether the indicative non-binding bid will lead to a definitive transaction.

NOL added that a combination of Hapag-Lloyd and APL would create the world's third-largest container line. The latest statistics provided by AXS-Alphaliner show that a joint Hapag-Lloyd-APL entity would leapfrog CMA CGM into third place behind Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co. with a combined fleet of about 960,000 TEUs and an order book of about 333,000 TEUs.

German tourism and shipping conglomerate TUI AG earlier this year yielded to shareholder pressure by deciding to separate Hapag-Lloyd from the group with options still under review including a spin-off, merger or divestment, the latter being favored by TUI.

After weeks of intensive work we have submitted a competitive offer, said Christian Olearius, managing partner at M.M. Warburg, a Hamburg bank that is acting as advisors to the Kuehne-backed investors.

Wolfgang Peiner, a former city of Hamburg finance senator and founder of the so-called Hamburg Solution group, said: Our consortium secures the independence of Hapag-Lloyd.

No other details of the bid were disclosed. 

Source: American Shipper