Hapag-Lloyd plans IPO for 2015

   An initial public offering of stock in Hapag-Lloyd is anticipated in 2015, according to executives at TUI, the German tourism company that is the former parent company of the container shipping company, which remains one of its largest shareholders, along with the City of Hamburg and Kuhne Maritime.
   Updating securities analysts on TUI’s stake in Hapag-Lloyd during a half-year earnings report, Host Baier, the chief financial officer of TUI, said that subject to approval of Hapag-Lloyd’s merger with the Chilean carrier CSAV in the fourth quarter of this year, the IPO is expected in 2015.
   TUI currently owns 22 percent of Hapag-Lloyd. After the merger with CSAV, its stake will fall to 15.4 percent, and eventually, 13.9 percent as CSAV and Kuhne Maritime have agreed to contribute $259 million and $111 million, respectively, in exchange for a bigger stake in Hapag-Lloyd.
   “There is an agreed road map in place as far as our exit from Hapag-Lloyd is concerned and the core issue is the IPO, which is agreed upon for 2015,” Baier said.
   He said there will be a primary component of the IPO where Hapag-Lloyd will seek to raise €370 million ($507 million) in new capital and as well as a secondary component in which TUI will have a right to sell its shares.
   He also said that TUI has the right to sell its shares in an private placement or trade sale prior to the IPO.
   Baier added that there was strong agreement among the major shareholders in Hapag-Lloyd that the merger with CSAV made sense and that there were significant synergies from the two companies combining.
   “We believe that we have to have in container shipping a specific scale and therefore, this merger makes sense. There was a clear understanding from the beginning that there is a need for capital in this industry and therefore, everybody — the Chile guys, the City of Hamburg, Kuhne and ourselves — are convinced that we have to go for an IPO as quickly as possible after the merger,” he explained.
   “I fully understand that we have to have some tailwinds as far as the industry is concerned, but unfortunately, we do not see that tailwind at the time being. However, I’m convinced, and we have put that in a specific agreement, that all these four shareholders will promote the IPO as quickly as possible, hopefully in 2015.”
    He said that if the IPO does not take place in 2015, the companies have agreed to undertake a so-called “technical listing” — a listing where capital is not raised — so that Hapag-Lloyd would be listed on a stock exchange.