Grindrod confirms talks to buy P&O Nedlloyd’s South African services

Grindrod confirms talks to buy P&O Nedlloyd’s South African services    Durban-based shipping and logistics company Grindrod Ltd. confirmed to American Shipper it is in talks with A.P. Moller-Maersk to purchase the South African services of P&O Nedlloyd.
   The European Commission made it a condition of its approval of A.P. Moller-Maersk’s recent takeover of P&O Nedlloyd that the new operation withdraw from certain European conferences and consortia, as well as selling off P&O Nedlloyd’s Europe/South Africa liner interests.
   “I can confirm we are in talks with A.P. Moller,” said Dave Rennie, Grindrod’s executive director.
   Grindrod already has close links with A.P. Moller, operating Ocean Africa Container Lines, a joint venture with A.P. Moller subsidiary Safmarine Container Lines. Ocean Africa operates container vessels in the coastal range between Luanda in Angola and Mombassa in Kenya.
   In a move that could help finance the purchase, Grindrod Tuesday successfully concluded the private placement of 5 million new preference shares at 100 rand ($15.45) each, amounting to a total 500 million rand ($76.8 million) capital raised.
   Other carriers rumored to be interested in buying P&O Nedlloyd’s South African routes are Hamburg Sud, CMA CGM, MOL and Deutsche Afrika-Linie.
   According to ComPair Data, the global liner-shipping database at https://www.compairdata.com, P&O Nedlloyd involved in three weekly services in the Europe/Africa trade.