CMA CGM is seeking $300 million to $400 million from outside investors to restore its finances as it faces a heavy bill for containership orders, said Jacques Saade, chairman of the French ocean carrier.
Following reports Thursday that three private investors are interested in the firm, Saade told French business magazine L’Expansion that he wants investors to take stakes in the world’s third largest carrier for between five and seven years and will also ask employees to acquire shares in the privately-held company he built up.
Bloomberg reported Thursday that Apollo Management, the private equity fund that put together CEVA Logistics, French private equity firm Butler Capital Partners and Louis Dreyfus, the Paris-based raw-materials trader and producer, last week requested financial information on the family-controlled company.
The company is facing a cash crunch because it has to find $1.2 billion in upfront payments for newbuildings.
Saade said Marseilles-based CMA CGM is one of the rare ocean carriers that has not been losing money in recent months. The carrier lost $515 million in the first half of 2009 but has said it will break even by the end of the year and likely will move into profit in 2010.
Saade said progress has been made in negotiations with South Korean shipyards over CMA CGM’s large order book. The yards do not want orders to be cancelled and say they are willing to lend CMA CGM money, he said.
The CMA CGM chairman said he is not worried about taking delivery of large containerships at a time when cargo volumes are weak. Ships on the Europe/Asia route are saving $400,000 on fuel bills every voyage by halving sailing speed to twelve knots. Slow steaming also has reactivated idled tonnage as more ships are needed to maintain service frequencies.
CMA CGM has not responded to a report in Wansquare, a French financial news service, that its creditor banks want Denis Ranque, the former head of defence electronics group Thales, to take over the company before they agree to restructure its debts.
The carrier says it expects to announce an agreement with the banks by mid-December, a month later than originally planned.
Following reports Thursday that three private investors are interested in the firm, Saade told French business magazine L’Expansion that he wants investors to take stakes in the world’s third largest carrier for between five and seven years and will also ask employees to acquire shares in the privately-held company he built up.
Bloomberg reported Thursday that Apollo Management, the private equity fund that put together CEVA Logistics, French private equity firm Butler Capital Partners and Louis Dreyfus, the Paris-based raw-materials trader and producer, last week requested financial information on the family-controlled company.
The company is facing a cash crunch because it has to find $1.2 billion in upfront payments for newbuildings.
Saade said Marseilles-based CMA CGM is one of the rare ocean carriers that has not been losing money in recent months. The carrier lost $515 million in the first half of 2009 but has said it will break even by the end of the year and likely will move into profit in 2010.
Saade said progress has been made in negotiations with South Korean shipyards over CMA CGM’s large order book. The yards do not want orders to be cancelled and say they are willing to lend CMA CGM money, he said.
The CMA CGM chairman said he is not worried about taking delivery of large containerships at a time when cargo volumes are weak. Ships on the Europe/Asia route are saving $400,000 on fuel bills every voyage by halving sailing speed to twelve knots. Slow steaming also has reactivated idled tonnage as more ships are needed to maintain service frequencies.
CMA CGM has not responded to a report in Wansquare, a French financial news service, that its creditor banks want Denis Ranque, the former head of defence electronics group Thales, to take over the company before they agree to restructure its debts.
The carrier says it expects to announce an agreement with the banks by mid-December, a month later than originally planned.