P&O NEDLLOYD PARENT URGES STOCK MARKET LISTING BY END-2003

P&O NEDLLOYD PARENT URGES STOCK MARKET LISTING BY END-2003    Royal Nedlloyd N.V., the Dutch group that owns 50 percent of the P&O Nedlloyd container shipping joint venture, aims to change the shareholder structure of the P&O Nedlloyd by the end of 2003.
   Haddo Meijer, chairman of Nedlloyd, said that he would be “disappointed” if P&O Nedlloyd was not listed on the stock market as an independent company by the end of the year.
   Nedlloyd has discussed with the P&O group — the other 50-percent parent of P&O Nedlloyd — a stock market listing for their joint venture company since at least 2001.
   One of the proposals put forward by Nedlloyd is a “reverse takeover,” whereby P&O Nedlloyd would replace Nedlloyd as a public company on the Amsterdam stock exchange. However, Nedlloyd and P&O have until now been unable to agree on a future structure and potential stock market listing for P&O Nedlloyd.
   Nedlloyd is also considering a dual stock market listing of P&O Nedlloyd — in Amsterdam and London.
   A spokesman for Nedlloyd said that, once a new shareholder structure has been adopted at P&O Nedlloyd, “the company would be ready for a large acquisition.”
   “At the moment, we are not busy with an acquisition,” he told AS+.
   P&O Nedlloyd was established through the merger of P&O Containers and Nedlloyd Lines at the end of 1996, when it was the world’s largest container shipping group. P&O Nedlloyd now ranks as the third largest carrier in containership capacity.