CMA CGM’s purchase of NOL/APL gains approval from MOFCOM

The French ocean carrier received confirmation today for its estimated $2.4 billion acquisition of Neptune Orient Lines and its APL container shipping subsidiary by the Anti-monopoly Bureau of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.    Marseilles, France-based ocean carrier CMA CGM received confirmation today for its estimated $2.4 billion acquisition of Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) and its APL container shipping subsidiary by the Anti-monopoly Bureau of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.
   Just last month, CMA CGM received approval from the European Commission for the proposed acquisition, conditional upon APL leaving the G6 ocean carrier alliance by April of next year.
   With regulatory approvals now received from MOFCOM and the European Commission on its proposed voluntary general cash offer for NOL, CMA CGM said it expects to announce the offer by June 2 at the latest.
   The proposed acquisition was initially announced in December 2015.
   Overall, the combined CMA CGM-NOL entity would create a company with 563 ships with a capacity of about 2.4 million TEUs and annual revenues of $22.3 billion, the carriers jointly said.
   CMA CGM is a member of the Ocean3 Alliance, which also includes China Shipping and United Arab Shipping Co., while APL is currently a member of the G6 Alliance, along with Hapag Lloyd, MOL, NYK, OOCL and HMM.