Reuters: HSH Nordbank meeting with potential buyers

German bank and shipping financier HSH Nordbank is holding discussions in London with the Bank of China, as well as global investment groups Apollo and Lone Star, about a potential sale, according to a report from Reuters news service.    State-owned German bank and shipping financier HSH Nordbank is holding discussions in London with the Bank of China, as well as global investment groups Apollo and Lone Star, about a potential sale, according to a report from Reuters news service.
   The Reuters report cited sources “close to the matter,” who said owners would prefer to sell the bank as a single company, but are also considering splitting the firm into two separate divisions – the bank itself and a portfolio of its underperforming loans – in order to find a buyer.
   Both HSH and the potential buyers either were not immediately available or declined to comment on the story.
   HSH is currently majority owned by the northern German states of Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg, which together hold an 85 percent share, but the government has mandated the bank be privatized by the end of February 2018. The firm has tapped Citigroup to organize the sale process, which is expected to begin in early 2017.
   In advance of the privatization, HSH is also selling a 3.2 billion euro (U.S. $3.4 billion) loan portfolio, with a deal for half of that expected this year and the remainder in early 2017, according to Reuters.
   The bank in October said it would take possession of six 13,010-TEU vessels previously operated by the now insolvent South Korean ocean carrier Hanjin Shipping and charter them out to Maersk, the world’s largest container shipping line.
   At the time, a “source involved in the transaction” told Reuters that HSH had separately arranged with three other banks to charter an additional three vessels to Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC), the second-largest container carrier.
   Hanjin has been dismantling its operations in the past few months as part of its court receivership proceedings in Korea, which were initiated on Aug. 31 and represent the largest carrier bankruptcy in industry history.
   Although they are still fierce competitors, Maersk and MSC operate a network of shared container services in the Asia-Europe, transpacific and transatlantic trades under the 2M Alliance name.