Rickmers Holding Takes New Corporate Form

Rickmers Holding GmbH & Cie. KG, parent of the shipping company Rickmers Group, is to become a stock corporation according to a decision made at today’s shareholders’ meeting.

The entry in the Commercial Register of the new corporate form is expected to take place by the end of June 2015. Following this entry, the company will henceforth do business as Rickmers Holding AG.

In its first meeting, the Supervisory Board elected Mr Bertram R.C. Rickmers as Chairman of the Supervisory Board and Mr Jost Hellmann as Deputy Chairman. The Supervisory Board appointed Dr Ignace Van Meenen and Prof. Dr Mark-Ken Erdmann as Members of the Rickmers Holding AG Executive Board.

“With the announcement of the decision taken today we are very well positioned to take advantage of current and future growth opportunities arising from the consolidation of the shipping sector. Our initial focus is on the further expansion of our portfolio of energy-efficient container ships, which our customers are increasingly demanding”, explains Dr Ignace Van Meenen, Rickmers Group CEO.

“The conversion of Rickmers Holding to a stock corporation represents a further milestone in the history of our company, and is closely linked to the plans already announced to strengthen the Rickmers Group’s own equity and internal financing capacity. It also provides us with options to implement these measures at Group level”, adds Prof. Dr Mark-Ken Erdmann, Rickmers Group CFO.

The Rickmers Group’s business activities are grouped into three segments: maritime assets, maritime services and the Rickmers-Linie.