The investor is interested in the port of Hamburg.
(Photo: IMAGO / Shotshop)
Berlin The logistics entrepreneur Klaus-Michael Kühne would like to take over the Hamburg Port Authority HHLA in collaboration with the container shipping company Hapag-Lloyd. “If an acquisition of HHLA is feasible, it would be possible to include Hapag-Lloyd or to leave the investment entirely to Hapag-Lloyd,” Kühne told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” according to the preliminary report. His move has not yet been coordinated with the shipping company, in which he holds a 30 percent stake.
Competitors such as MSC or CMA CGM, who could feel offended by such a transaction, would therefore offer Kühne terminal shares “in order to bind them to Hamburg and at the same time give them a say”.
When asked that the Hamburg Senate did not want to sell HHLA at all, Kühne said the process was not a sure-fire success. “A lot depends on Hamburg politics, which is currently very left-leaning. But as soon as fresh forces from the middle-class camp gain weight, the tide could turn. I know that there are many supporters of my ideas.” He would therefore be prepared to spend around half a billion euros for the majority shareholding in HHLA and to invest in modernizing the facilities.
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