Could Germany investment rules affect NOL purchase of Hapag-Lloyd?
Could a bid by Singapore’s Neptune Orient Line for container carrier Hapag-Lloyd be blocked by proposed rules that would prevent state-controlled investment funds from buying German companies?
NOL declined an official comment, but pointed to a report appearing in Hamburger Abendblatt and several other German papers this week that quoted Minister for Economic Affairs Michael Glos as saying, “Hapag-Lloyd can be purchased by whoever wants to purchase it.”
According to the Web site of German broadcaster Deutsche Welleon Wednesday, “Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition has unveiled new far-reaching rules to head off powerful foreign-owned state-controlled funds going on a shopping spree for companies in Europe’s biggest economy.”
The broadcaster added, “Of particular concern to Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrat-led coalition is the threat posed to key German industries, such as telecoms, banks and energy sectors, by cash-rich state funds from Russia, the Middle East and China, so-called sovereign wealth funds.”
The proposal to prevent companies or investment groups from outside the European Union from buying 25 percent or more of strategic German companies would need parliamentary approval.
In July NOL, the parent of the container shipping company APL, submitted a non-binding bid to acquire Hapag-Lloyd from its parent company, the tourism company TUI AG. In early August NOL said it had been invited to continue into the next phase of the bidding process for the sale of the Hapag-Lloyd. About two-thirds of NOL is controlled by Temasek, Singapore’s investment fund.
An article in London’s Guardian noted that Germany has generally welcomed investment by sovereign funds in private companies such as banks in need of liquidity because of the subprime lending crisis. It said the new legislation to restrict investment was “initially triggered by the 5 percent stake in the aerospace group EADS taken by a Russian bank and it is now under pressure to scrutinize a potential takeover of the container shipping firm Hapag-Lloyd by Singapore’s Temasek fund.”
The only other known bidder for Hapag is a consortium of Hamburg investors, the so-called 'Hamburg Solution' group, backed financially by Kuehne + Nagel Chairman Klaus-Michael Kuehne.
But a report in the Hamburger Abendblatt went on to quote Glos as saying that the sale of Hapag-Lloyd was not a matter of public interest.
That seemed to spark further controversy in Germany, with Economic Sen. Axel Gedaschko questioning whether Glos was aware of the importance of Hapag-Lloyd to the Hamburg economy and questioning whether he would have made the same remarks if it was BMW that was being sold. ' Chris Dupin
