German shipping company Hamburg Sud would be an ideal merger partner to help vault rival Hapag-Lloyd into the top tier of shipping companies, a big shareholder in Hapag-Lloyd told Wirtschaftswoche magazine.
"Only a merger can hoist the shipper (Hapag) back into the lead group alongside Denmark's Maersk and Switzerland's MSC," Klaus-Michael Kuehne told the magazine.
Kuehne is a leader of the Albert-Ballin consortium of investors, which holds nearly 78 percent of Hapag-Lloyd.
Hapag's other main shareholder is TUI with a stake of just over 22 percent.
Hamburg Sud is Germany's largest privately owned shipping company and part of the family owned conglomerate Oetker group.
Kuehne, who is also majority owner of Swiss logistics group Kuehne & Nagel, said he aimed to remain a long-term shareholder in Hapag after the shipper's initial public offering, planned for 2013.
If Hapag were to require a capital increase that would lead to a dilution of his stakeholding, Kuehne would increase his investment in the company to ensure he maintained a blocking minority stake of 25 percent, he said.
Kuehne said he had already reached an understanding to that effect with politicians in the city state of Hamburg, which is also part of the Albert-Ballin consortium.
All news