The container shipping company MSC wants to join the port operator HHLA.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin The world’s largest shipping company MSC wants to join the Hamburg port operator HHLA. The Swiss-based company announced on Wednesday a takeover offer for the publicly traded HHLA, whose equity is valued at 1.2 billion euros. The company value including debt is 2.6 billion euros.
MSC has also signed a deal with Hamburg. This stipulates that after the transaction is completed, the Hanseatic city will hold 50.1 percent of HHLA shares and MSC will hold 49.9 percent. The city state currently owns 69 percent of the shares.
At the same time, MSC made commitments to HHLA’s capacity utilization in the partnership, which was initially intended to last 40 years. The port of Hamburg is under fierce competition from other ports such as Rotterdam and Antwerp.
MSC is committed to shipping 500,000 standard containers annually via HHLA from 2025, and the volume is expected to double to one million containers by 2030, it was said in financial circles. At the same time, MSC is building its German headquarters in Hamburg, from where the group will also manage the German freight, logistics and cruise business (MSC Cruises) in the future and thus create 300 jobs.
MSC is offering HHLA shareholders a price of 16.75 euros, a premium of 45 percent on Tuesday’s closing price. There is no minimum acceptance threshold. However, it was said in financial circles that MSC planned to take HHLA off the stock exchange and force out the minority shareholders via a so-called squeeze-out. The port operator’s share price rose by more than 45 percent on Wednesday morning to over 17 euros at times.
Hamburg’s First Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) spoke of a “groundbreaking strategic partnership” in a short-term press conference on Wednesday morning. Economics Senator Melanie Leonhard (SPD) explained that the proposed model would mean that the port of Hamburg would remain under the control of the city, but would gain an important partner in MSC, the world’s largest shipping company. Hamburg’s citizens still have to vote on the deal.
Kühne’s offers failed
There had also recently been interest in HHLA from other quarters. The well-known Hamburg investor Klaus-Michael Kühne announced just a few days ago that he wanted to take over HHLA through his stake in the shipping company Hapag-Lloyd. Kühne, who had relocated his company headquarters to Switzerland for tax reasons, said he was prepared to acquire a majority stake in the port operator for around 500 million euros.
According to Handelsblatt information, there had been intensive discussions at the highest level of secrecy between the companies involved and the Senate in the past few days. In addition to the continued control of the city, what was also convincing this time was that MSC had made promises to secure jobs, said Finance Senator Andreas Dressel (SPD). This was recorded on Wednesday in a declaration of intent with MSC.
Before the deal is completed, the remaining HHLA shareholders will have to position themselves. Around a third of the shares are in free float. The reaction of the HHLA management itself is still pending.
Rothschild and Allen Overy are acting as advisors for the city of Hamburg, while Commerzbank and Freshfields are advising MSC.
More: Investor Kühne expresses interest in the port of Hamburg