Hapag-Lloyd on Sunday said it is in advanced negotiations to acquire Zim Integrated Shipping Services Ltd., Israel’s national flag carrier.
The German company (HLAG.DE) in a release said it will partner with private equity investor FIMI Opportunity Funds of Israel on the purchase, which would assume financial obligations of Israel’s golden share in publicly-held Zim (NASDAQ: ZIM). That gives Jerusalem control of the carrier’s strategic assets for security purposes.
Zim employees had protested a sale to Hapag-Lloyd, which is one-third owned by the sovereign investment funds of Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Hapag-Lloyd is the world’s fifth-largest container line, with capacity of 2.38 million twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs), or 7.1% of the global total, according to data from Alphaliner. The addition of 10th-ranked Zim’s 704,000 TEUs would still leave Hapag-Lloyd outside the top four carriers, but widen its lead over the trio of lines comprising Ocean Network Express at number six. A sale would also strengthen Gemini, Hapag-Lloyd’s global east-west network with Maersk (MAERSK-B.CO) of Denmark.
No binding agreements have been signed following a six-month tender offer. Regulators and Zim shareholders would have to approve the deal, which is not likely to be concluded until 2027.
A sale would delist Zim shares, which went public in 2021 at a valuation of $1.5 billion. Its shares currently value the company at $2.7 billion.
Calcalist of Israel first reported the value of the acquisition.
Find more articles by Stuart Chirls here.
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