Hapag-Lloyd parent shuns Hamburg Sud merger approach

Hapag-Lloyd parent shuns Hamburg Sud merger approach    TUI AG, parent company of Hapag-Lloyd, said it will go ahead with its plan to put one-third of the shipping line’s shares on the stock exchange despite an informal approach by Hamburg Sud to merge the two German shipping companies.
   August Oetker, chairman and owner of the Oetker conglomerate, which owns Hamburg Sud, said he would like to discuss a merger with Hapag-Lloyd.
   “It’s a wish,” a spokesman for Hamburg Sud said. “There has been no reply until now.”
   A spokesman for TUI said no formal offer has been received from Oetker, and that Hapag-Lloyd's initial public offering, scheduled later this year, is still expected.
   “If we got any offer from anybody, we will proof them,” the TUI spokesman added, referring to the analysis of financial conditions.
   Oetker's informal approach is a new attempt to combine the forces of Germany’s two largest liner-shipping companies. In 1996-1997, Hapag-Lloyd and Hamburg Sud discussed a merger, but the talks ended over a disagreement concerning each company’s ownership percentage in a future merged entity.
   In 2002, Hapag-Lloyd carried 1.85 million TEUs worldwide, while Hamburg Sud shipped 775,000 TEUs.
   TUI said it will comment on the future of Hapag-Lloyd during its annual financial press conference scheduled for March 31.