Evergreen denies rumor about CMA CGM purchase

Speculation follows reports earlier this year that CMA CGM approached Hapag-Lloyd and is interested in further acquisitions.    Evergreen Marine Corp. (EMC) has denied a report that appeared in Taiwan’s Commercial Times on Tuesday that CMA CGM plans to acquire it.
   “With reference to recent media speculation over the possible purchase of EMC, such reports were no more than rumors, which have no grounds in fact. The content mentioned in the report is nothing more than speculation,” said Evergreen in a statement posted on the website of the Taiwan Stock Exchange’s Market Observation Post System.
   A CMA CGM spokesman told American Shipper, “We never comment on market rumors.”
   CMA CGM and Evergreen, along with COSCO and OOCL, are members of the Ocean Alliance. COSCO purchased a controlling interest — 75 percent — in the parent company of OOCL this summer.
    Klaus-Michael Kühne, who controls 25 percent of Hapag-Lloyd, said earlier this year he was approached by CMA CGM about possibly acquiring the German shipping company. But Kühne said he doesn’t want Hapag-Lloyd to be taken over by the French carrier.
   Lloyd’s List reported earlier this month, “Confirming rumors at the start of the summer that the French container line had approached Hapag-Lloyd, CMA CGM’s chief executive ( Rodolphe Saadé) said the ‘matter was closed,’ but the company remains on the lookout for acquisition targets.”
   In June, CMA CGM announced an agreement to acquire the Finnish company Containerships, an intra-European shortsea specialist that CMA CGM said has a “strong presence in the Baltic market, Russia, Northern Europe, North Africa and Turkey.”