German investor Klaus-Michael Kuehne, who acquired a major holding in shipping group Hapag-Lloyd, said on Tuesday he had no plans to sell a stake in the firm to Danish rival Maersk Line .
Maersk Line Chief Executive Officer Eivind Kolding told a German paper over the weekend that he was not ruling out a bid for Hapag-Lloyd, which tourist firm TUI last month sold for 4.45 billion euros ($5.7 billion) to an investor group led by Kuehne.
Kuehne said he would hold a 25.1 percent blocking minority in Hapag-Lloyd after the deal was announced, and told a panel discussion in Berlin entitled "How national should the German economy be?" that he had no plans to give Maersk a stake.
"This is not being discussed," he said. "We want (Hapag-Lloyd) to remain as pure-bred German as possible."
Maersk Line Chief Executive Officer Eivind Kolding told a German paper over the weekend that he was not ruling out a bid for Hapag-Lloyd, which tourist firm TUI last month sold for 4.45 billion euros ($5.7 billion) to an investor group led by Kuehne.
Kuehne said he would hold a 25.1 percent blocking minority in Hapag-Lloyd after the deal was announced, and told a panel discussion in Berlin entitled "How national should the German economy be?" that he had no plans to give Maersk a stake.
"This is not being discussed," he said. "We want (Hapag-Lloyd) to remain as pure-bred German as possible."