Hapag-Lloyd plans stock market listing

Hapag-Lloyd plans stock market listing    The supervisory board of TUI AG announced yesterday that it wants about a third of the stock of its wholly-owned shipping and logistics subsidiary Hapag-Lloyd AG to be listed on the stock market, after selling its non-shipping activities.
   Under the plan, Hamburg-based Hapag-Lloyd will be restructured into “an exclusively shipping company” comprising Hapag-Lloyd Container Line and Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, the German company said. Hapag-Lloyd will dispose of its logistics arm VTG-Lehnkering AG and of container modules company Algeco.
   “The selling process for the bulk and special logistics business unit of VTG-Lehnkering is already proceeding and that for the rail and tank container logistics business unit is starting,” Hapag-Lloyd said.
   “The stock exchange wants to have focused companies, not conglomerates,” said Michael Behrendt, chairman of the executive board of Hapag-Lloyd AG.
   “It will give the company greater entrepreneurial independence,” Behrendt added. He believes that the stock exchange listing will also open up new opportunities for Hapag-Lloyd.
   TUI plans to finalize the stock market listing of Hapag-Lloyd later this year.
   In 2000, TUI considered putting half of the shares in Hapag-Lloyd on the stock market, a move that was postponed. A small percentage of the shares in TUI-controlled Hapag-Lloyd was traded on the stock exchange until 2002.
   The industrial conglomerate TUI, formerly called Preussag, acquired the then stock market-listed Hapag-Lloyd in 1997 for about 2.8 billion Deutsche marks ($1.6 billion), largely because of its profitable tourism activities.
   The timing of Hapag-Lloyd’s stock market listing plan coincides with good market conditions and strong profit results in the container shipping industry, which have boosted the prices of shipping stocks.
   Hapag-Lloyd has not reported its 2003 profit, but said that it “again achieved an extraordinarily high profit, accounted for mainly by its global liner shipping.”
   Hapag-Lloyd Container Line recorded double-digit growth in transport volume in 2003, which for the first time exceeded 2 million TEUs. The carrier’s fleet comprises 40 containerships.
   Hapag-Lloyd Cruises is focused on the luxury segment. The fleet of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises also includes the two expedition ships “Hanseatic” and “Bremen,” as well as the “Columbus.”
   Hapag-Lloyd said the departure of its executive board member Guenther Casjens, announced yesterday, was not related to the public offering.