Hapag Lloyd IPO Valued at Over $5.5 Bln
A flotation of a minority stake could value the world's fourth-largest shipping group German-Chilean Hapag-Lloyd AG at more than 5 billion euros ($5.5 billion) and could take place as early as autumn.
Hapag-Lloyd AG has already mandated investment banks Deutsche Bank AG, Goldman Sachs Inc. and Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co. to advise on the initial public offering (IPO), as per various media reports.
The reports indicate Hapag-Lloyd expediting efforts to float a minority stake on the Frankfurt stock exchange as early as this fall.
The net proceeds from the IPO could be used to cover the company’s pretty extensive debt of USD 3.65 billion. However, the plans are yet to be confirmed by Hapag-Lloyd.
Last year, Hamburg-based Hapag-Lloyd acquired Chile's Compañía Sud Americana de Vapores SA (CSAV), making it the fourth-largest container-shipping company in the world.
Meanwhile, the Journal of Commerce says that reports in the past twenty four hours that Hapag-Lloyd has hired investment banks to advise on an initial public offering and the Singapore government is selling its majority stake in Neptune Orient Lines have refueled speculation of a merger between the two ocean carriers.
The timing of the – as yet unconfirmed – reports is coincidental, but the fact the two companies share a history going back to 2008 has got the industry talking again about a possible tie-up between the two lines.
