Fredriksen takes stake in Hapag-Lloyd parent

Fredriksen takes stake in Hapag-Lloyd parent    Is Norwegian tanker tycoon John Fredriksen eyeing the container business?
   That’s the question being asked after a filing by TUI, parent of Hapag-Lloyd, revealed that one of Fredricksen’s companies, Geveran Trading in Cyprus, has accumulated more than 3 percent of TUI’s shares.
   TUI is involved in the tourism business, but acquired Hapag-Lloyd in 1998, and the container shipping company became a fully owned subsidiary in 2002.
   There has been periodic speculation in recent years that TUI might hive off the box ship business.
   Reuters and Lloyds List quoted Tor Olav Troeim, vice president of Frontline, as saying Geveran was buying the shares because they are “cheap,” but declined further comment.
   Earlier this month, Hapag-Lloyd chairman Michael Behrendt was tightlipped about a possible sale or flotation of the container line by parent company TUI in an interview with the German newspaper Die Welt.
   “It’s not for me to say how our owner should shape its portfolio,” Behrendt said.
   TUI faced pressure from major shareholders to sell the company when container results took a nosedive amid the industry-wide decline in freight rates that came soon after its purchase of CP Ships in late 2005.
   But Behrendt said the company expected to benefit from the recent upturn in freight rates and full ships.
   Forbes estimates Fredricksen’s fortune at $7 billion. Forbes said last year he gave up his Norwegian citizenship in favor of Cyprus because of lower taxes. In addition to Frontline, he is a major owner of the offshore drilling company SeaDrill, and General Maritime, as well as other shipping and fishing companies.