Singapore's Neptune Orient Lines finally decided to walk away from its attempt to acquire the Hapag Lloyd container division of TUI AG. Instead, a Hamburg based investor group has agreed to buy the Hapag Lloyd container division of TUI AG for 4.45 billion euros (USD6.11 billion). News of the sale came after Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) dropped its bid on Friday to focus on managing APL’s container business.
That left the Hamburg-based group, led by Klaus-Michael Kuehne, the majority investor in Swiss logistics company Kuehne & Nagel, the city of Hamburg, and bank M.M. Warburg partner Christian Olearius, as the only remaining bidder for Hapag-Lloyd, whose fleet of 130 ships makes it the world’s fifth-largest container carrier.
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It’s interesting to note that Klaus-Michael Kuehne is also the majority investor in Swiss logistics company Kuehne & Nagel. As the sale is finalized, it will be interesting see how K&N will leverage this new found relationship with Hapag and how that will affect Hapag’s current alliances with forwarders globally if at at all.
Key phrase
The key phrase that I want to highlight is the part that mentions that NOL is walking away from the Hapag Lloyd deal in order to focus on managing APL’s container business. APL or American President Lines is a container shipping company acquired by NOL some years ago. By all accounts, APL is very well-managed. I have done a post on this a while back.
In itself, the phrase seems simple and clear enough. But, read in the context of the Singapore government's forecast of negative GDP growth in Singapore and, the current global economic turmoil (it doesn't matter that there has been a rebound ranging from 2% to 12% in Asian and European bourses, against January 1 figures everyone is still down some 30% to 50%) this is an exercise in risk management by the Singapore government-linked NOL. It is prudential management.
Maybank-PII
Likewise, Singapore government-linked Temasek Holdings is divesting its stake in the Indonesian bank PII. The rationale would be similar, in broad terms, to NOL's decision.
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But, Lo! and Behold!, Malaysia's Maybank is proceeding to acquire PII at valuations conducted earlier in the year, before the current economic turmoil. Go figure.
That left the Hamburg-based group, led by Klaus-Michael Kuehne, the majority investor in Swiss logistics company Kuehne & Nagel, the city of Hamburg, and bank M.M. Warburg partner Christian Olearius, as the only remaining bidder for Hapag-Lloyd, whose fleet of 130 ships makes it the world’s fifth-largest container carrier.
.It’s interesting to note that Klaus-Michael Kuehne is also the majority investor in Swiss logistics company Kuehne & Nagel. As the sale is finalized, it will be interesting see how K&N will leverage this new found relationship with Hapag and how that will affect Hapag’s current alliances with forwarders globally if at at all.
Key phrase
The key phrase that I want to highlight is the part that mentions that NOL is walking away from the Hapag Lloyd deal in order to focus on managing APL’s container business. APL or American President Lines is a container shipping company acquired by NOL some years ago. By all accounts, APL is very well-managed. I have done a post on this a while back.
In itself, the phrase seems simple and clear enough. But, read in the context of the Singapore government's forecast of negative GDP growth in Singapore and, the current global economic turmoil (it doesn't matter that there has been a rebound ranging from 2% to 12% in Asian and European bourses, against January 1 figures everyone is still down some 30% to 50%) this is an exercise in risk management by the Singapore government-linked NOL. It is prudential management.
Maybank-PII
Likewise, Singapore government-linked Temasek Holdings is divesting its stake in the Indonesian bank PII. The rationale would be similar, in broad terms, to NOL's decision.
.But, Lo! and Behold!, Malaysia's Maybank is proceeding to acquire PII at valuations conducted earlier in the year, before the current economic turmoil. Go figure.
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