Investors interested in CMA CGM, report says

Investors interested in CMA CGM, report says    Three equity investors are pondering injecting capital into French liner carrier CMA CGM, according to a report by Bloomberg Friday.
   Among them are the U.S.-based Apollo Management, which is most known within the industry for its 2006 capture of TNT Logistics. The report said Paris-based equity fund Butler Capital Partners has also registered an interest. Last week, another French entity, raw materials trader and producer Louis Dreyfus, emerged as a candidate to pump outside investment into the embattled line.
   Privately held CMA CGM has indicated in recent weeks that it is open to outside investment to help meet short-term cash needs.
   The line is in the midst of a project to restructure its debt, with reports persisting that some of its lenders, notably BNP Paribas, want to see founder and chairman Jacques Saad' depart before they agree to postpone debt repayments. After previously denying that such a scenario was taking place in a statement by Saad', a CMA CGM spokeswoman told Bloomberg last week “it is open to reinforcement of its management team.”

Saade

   The line last week said it expects its container operations to return to profitability by next year due to cost cutting, return of chartered vessels and service rationalizations. But the line lost $515 million in the first half of 2009 and its year-end losses are expected to be heavy as well.
   The Bloomberg report said Apollo raised $15 billion in the last year “to invest in companies and distressed debt.” CMA CGM’s cash reserves were sliced by two-thirds in the first half of the year, as moribund rates on its key trades coincided with payments due on its fleet expansion program.