Hapag-Lloyd and CSAV Cleared to Merge

Hapag-Lloyd and the Chilean Compañía Sud Americana de Vapores (CSAV) are joining forces, by merging CSAV´s container business activities into Hapag-Lloyd, becoming the fourth-largest liner shipping company in the world, the German company said in a release.

The merger of Hapag-Lloyd AG with the container business activities of the Chilean shipping company founded in Valparaíso, in 1872, is expected to result in many synergies. Annual savings of at least USD 300 million are anticipated as a result of network optimizations, improvements to productivity and reductions in costs. The merged company will have around 200 vessels with a total capacity of approximately one million TEU, transporting some 7.5 million TEU every year, and will set up its fourth regional headquarter in Valparaiso, Chile. The company is expected to have revenue of around USD 12 billion.

Rolf Habben Jansen, Chief Executive Officer of Hapag-Lloyd, said: “This is a big day for both companies. With Hapag-Lloyd’s strength in Asian traffic and on the North Atlantic, combined with CSAV’s strong position in Latin America, we will become the leading shipping company in this region – and thereby be able to offer our global customers an even more attractive network and wider range of products. Our ability to compete will also be significantly enhanced by closing the gap to the top three of our industry. There will be no major changes to the way we work until the transition to the Hapag-Lloyd systems towards the end of the first quarter 2015.”

The main processes of integrating CSAV’s container business into Hapag-Lloyd are expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2015.

In addition to integrating CSAV’s container business into Hapag-Lloyd, there are also plans to strengthen the company by raising capital of EUR 370 million (USD 457.6m) by December 31, 2014, in which CSAV will take a share of EUR 259 million (USD 320.3m) and Kühne Maritime EUR 111 million (USD 137.3m) .

The ownership structure of Hapag-Lloyd AG will therefore change as follows: CSAV will become Hapag-Lloyd’s biggest shareholder with 34% after the cash capital increase. The other shareholders are HGV (23.2%), Kühne Maritime (20.8%), TUI (13.9%), Signal Iduna (3.3%), HSH Nordbank (1.8%), M.M. Warburg (1.8%) and Hanse Merkur (1.1%).

CSAV, HGV and Kühne Maritime have agreed to pool 51% of the shares in Hapag-Lloyd in order to discuss and make key decisions together in the future. Of this pool structure, CSAV owns a 50% participation, while HGV and Kühne Maritime will own 25% each.
Press Release