Following talks with several interested parties, Oetker Group has signed an agreement for the sale of Hamburg Süd to Maersk Line A/S.
Oetker Group assumes that the transaction will be closed in late 2017 at the earliest, once the necessary approvals have been obtained.
With a carrying volume of around 4.1m TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) and a slot capacity of approximately 625,000 TEU, Hamburg Süd ranks among the world’s ten largest container shipping companies. The tramp, product tanker and other operations make up some 7% of the total turnover. The shipping company has roughly 6,000 employees and, with revenues of around €6.1bn, contributes just under 50% to the total sales of the Oetker Group (all figures refer to the 2015 financial year).
Despite prevailing market conditions, Hamburg Süd has grown clearly in excess of the market and has financed the expansion of its network as well as the ship and container fleet largely from its own cash flow. Nonetheless, the owners and management of Hamburg Süd recognize that active participation in the consolidation process of the sector currently taking place would entail an even higher capital requirement. This would, in addition, make the balancing of risk within the Oetker Group business portfolio more cumbersome.
The owners of the Oetker Group therefore decided to put Hamburg Süd in the hands of new owners.
More to follow…
Source: Oetker Group
