NOL bids for Hapag-Lloyd
By Splatty • Jul 23rd, 2008 • Category: Seafreight
NOL, the parent company of APL, has confirmed that they have submitted a non-binding offer to purchase Hapag Lloyd’s container shipping business.
If the offer goes through, the acquisition into the APL family will create the world’s third largest container business behind Maersk and MSC.
It will be interesting to see if a bidding war takes place for the company. Other rumored potential suitors are Kuehne & Nagel’s parent company and a group of Hamburg based investors who would keep the company based in Germany.
Via FT.com:
However, the other all but certain bidder is likely to be a group of Hamburg businessmen backed by the city’s government, one of Germany’s federal states. The group wants to ensure the company’s corporate headquarters are not moved elsewhere and fear Germany’s exporters could receive poorer service in future if the only sizeable German container line disappears.
If the sale does go through, it will be interesting to see how this affects NVOCC’s who have aligned themselves with Hapag on a global basis.
Click here for the press release from NOL.com
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