Hapag-Lloyd has agreed to sell its 25.1% stake in Hamburg’s Container-Terminal Altenwerder for €315m ($446.3m) as part of a €330m rescue package agreed with key shareholders last night.
The struggling German container line hopes to buy back its CTA holding, which it has owned since the facility was opened in 2002, once economic conditions recover.
The company is seeking €750m from its shareholders, of which some €300m was required immediately. That money must be in place before Hapag-Lloyd can approach Berlin for a further €1bn.
The state-of-the-art Altenwerder facility is one of Hapag-Lloyd’s last assets, but the line had little choice but to offer it to shareholders in exchange for urgently-needed cash.
With some banks reported to have withdrawn support for the €750m injection from shareholders amid concerns about the plight of the industry, Hapag-Lloyd reluctantly agreed to release its CTA interest. This is the only port facility owned by Hapag-Lloyd and has always been regarded as a strategic investment.
A special-purpose company formed by shareholders of the Albert Ballin consortium and Tui will take over Hapag-Lloyd’s CTA stake.
Consortium members Hamburger Gesellschaft für Vermögens- und Beteiligungsmanagement (HGV) and Signal Iduna insurances will participate in the newly formed company.
Tui said last night it was also prepared to assume the outstanding sum of €72m to be put up by the three remaining non-participating members of the consortium and will contribute a total of €215m to the purchase of the terminal. HGV will assume €24.9m of that amount in the first quarter of 2011, unless the money has already been reimbursed to Tui by that date.
HSH Nordbank, which will not have a stake in the special-purpose company, will contribute €15m in the form of a loan.
The planned capital and financing measures that are intended to safeguard the company over the long term can now be examined in detail and implemented over the next few weeks, said Tui that has a 43.3% interest in Hapag-Lloyd. The Albert Ballin consortium, which includes Klaus-Michael Kühne and the city state of Hamburg, owns 56.7%.
The CTA deal followed two days of intense meetings that ended late Tuesday night.
Tui said in a statement that it was satisfied about the future viability of Hapag-Lloyd following interim analysis prepared by management consultants Roland Berger.
“The restructuring and cost reduction measures which have been initiated and in some cases already implemented by the Hapag-Lloyd management are beginning to take effect,” the shareholder said.
“Tui is convinced that following execution of the announced capital measures, the shipping company will emerge stronger from the crisis and that it will be possible over the medium-term to realise the substantial value that are involved in this stakeholding.”
Measures that Hapag-Lloyd is taking to cut cost include requests for reduced charter rates for vessels on long-term hire, in line with recent concessions granted to Chilean line CSAV.
The struggling German container line hopes to buy back its CTA holding, which it has owned since the facility was opened in 2002, once economic conditions recover.
The company is seeking €750m from its shareholders, of which some €300m was required immediately. That money must be in place before Hapag-Lloyd can approach Berlin for a further €1bn.
The state-of-the-art Altenwerder facility is one of Hapag-Lloyd’s last assets, but the line had little choice but to offer it to shareholders in exchange for urgently-needed cash.
With some banks reported to have withdrawn support for the €750m injection from shareholders amid concerns about the plight of the industry, Hapag-Lloyd reluctantly agreed to release its CTA interest. This is the only port facility owned by Hapag-Lloyd and has always been regarded as a strategic investment.
A special-purpose company formed by shareholders of the Albert Ballin consortium and Tui will take over Hapag-Lloyd’s CTA stake.
Consortium members Hamburger Gesellschaft für Vermögens- und Beteiligungsmanagement (HGV) and Signal Iduna insurances will participate in the newly formed company.
Tui said last night it was also prepared to assume the outstanding sum of €72m to be put up by the three remaining non-participating members of the consortium and will contribute a total of €215m to the purchase of the terminal. HGV will assume €24.9m of that amount in the first quarter of 2011, unless the money has already been reimbursed to Tui by that date.
HSH Nordbank, which will not have a stake in the special-purpose company, will contribute €15m in the form of a loan.
The planned capital and financing measures that are intended to safeguard the company over the long term can now be examined in detail and implemented over the next few weeks, said Tui that has a 43.3% interest in Hapag-Lloyd. The Albert Ballin consortium, which includes Klaus-Michael Kühne and the city state of Hamburg, owns 56.7%.
The CTA deal followed two days of intense meetings that ended late Tuesday night.
Tui said in a statement that it was satisfied about the future viability of Hapag-Lloyd following interim analysis prepared by management consultants Roland Berger.
“The restructuring and cost reduction measures which have been initiated and in some cases already implemented by the Hapag-Lloyd management are beginning to take effect,” the shareholder said.
“Tui is convinced that following execution of the announced capital measures, the shipping company will emerge stronger from the crisis and that it will be possible over the medium-term to realise the substantial value that are involved in this stakeholding.”
Measures that Hapag-Lloyd is taking to cut cost include requests for reduced charter rates for vessels on long-term hire, in line with recent concessions granted to Chilean line CSAV.