CSAV Wants 25 Pct Stake in Hapag-Lloyd

Chilean shipping company Compañía Sudamericana de Vapores (CSAV) has set sights on increasing its stake in German counterpart Hapag-Lloyd to at least 25 percent.

CSAV is one of the primary shareholders in Hapag-Lloyd and based on the information from July this year it held 22.6 percent share in the company.

In order to buy the additional stake, CSAV said it would launch a capital increase via the issuance of 6.1 billion of new shares. The company expects to raise USD 280 million for the purpose.

CSAV is pursuing the move as it wants to keep its influence in decision-making processes regarding Hapag-Lloyd’s fundamental matters, including capital increases, mergers, and acquisitions, that require a 75 percent quorum approval.

The Chilean shipowner further added that the stake increase has been agreed with Hapag’s two remaining primary shareholders Kühne and the City of Hamburg.

The share offering will be launched on October 10, the company said.

The shares will be priced based on a volume-weighted average price over a three-day period prior to the preferential rights period, minus a 10% discount.

Current Hapag-Lloyd’s shareholder structure comprises CSAV (22.6%), Kühne (17.6%), the City of Hamburg (14.9%), Qatar Investment Authority (14.4%) and the Public Investment Fund on behalf of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (10.1%).

In addition, there is a free float of 20.4% percentages and the free float includes institutional shareholders with a shareholding of less than 5%.

German carrier Hapag-Lloyd announced in September that it intends to carry out a capital increase, agreed upon as part of its merger with United Arab Shipping Company (UASC), with the gross proceeds expected to reach USD 414 million.

The capital increase is backstopped by the company’s primary shareholders for the aforementioned total amount.

Hapag said that the main shareholders committed to exercise their subscription rights and to acquire new shares that are not acquired by other shareholders.

The German liner plans to use the proceeds from the capital increase for debt repayment.

World Maritime News Staff