The EU regulators will approve the acquisition deal between Danish shipping major Maersk Line and its German counterpart Hamburg Süd under a condition that the German carrier withdraws from certain trades, Reuters reports.
Details on the trades in question were not specified, however.
Maersk Line submitted commitments to the European Commission on March 20 aimed at removing potential competition related impediments to its acquisition of shares in Hamburg Süd.
Following the submission, the EU Commission said it would announce its decision on the merger by April 10.
The company, however, did not disclose what remedies were offered as those were “available only for the market participants addressed by the European Commission in its current remedies market investigation.”
Maersk Line said earlier that, subject to regulatory approval, it expects to close the transaction by the end of 2017.
The Danish container shipping company inked the sale and purchase agreement for the acquisition of the German carrier on March 14.
Commenting on the matter Maersk Line’s spokesperson Michael Storgaard said the company expects a decision early next week. The outcome of the decision was not commented.
Separately, Hamburg Süd has topped the SeaIntel Global Liner Performance Report for February 2017 in the schedule reliability category for the third month in a row. On the average for 2016, Hamburg Süd achieved second place among 20 container lines rated.
World Maritime News Staff