Hutchison buys stake in Hyundai Merchant Marine

Hutchison buys stake in Hyundai Merchant Marine    Only weeks after confirming it was interested in buying a stake in China Shipping Container Lines, the Hong Kong-based port-to-communications conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. said Wednesday it has signed an agreement with Hyundai Merchant Marine to purchase 12 percent of the shares of the Korean shipping company for about HK$606 million ($78 million).
   The share purchase will be completed June 15. Hyundai said the shares acquired by Hutchison Whampoa are “treasury stock” owned by Hyundai itself, rather than new shares.
   Hutchison Whampoa is the parent company of terminal operator Hutchison Port Holdings, of which Hyundai is a customer.
   Canning Fok, group managing director of Hutchison Whampoa, said the group will become a strategic investor in Hyundai, with which it has had a business relationship since 1993.
   “We believe this strategic investment will further build on the synergies and links between two companies,” he said.
   Hutchison Whampoa has also expressed an interest in buying a stake of about 10 percent in Shanghai-based China Shipping Container Lines, whose initial public offering is scheduled later this month.
   Jeremy Lau, spokesman for Hutchison Whampoa, said the group wants to “strengthen relationships” with both Hyundai and China Shipping Container Lines. China Shipping has been a customer of the Hong Kong-based group since 1997 and may help it to develop new terminal operations in China.
   Last year, Hutchison Whampoa sold its stake in Orient Overseas (International) Ltd., the parent company of OOCL, but it is now investing again in container shipping lines.
   In 2001, Hutchison Whampoa also acquired from Hyundai several container terminal operations in Korea.