Hapag Lloyd sale in jeopardy

Lloyd's List reports the sale of Hapag-Lloyd has hit some problems. This is not unexpected as the sale was renegotiated just prior to the major downturn in international shipping. The only other bidder, NOL (APL) already saw this, and withdrew their bid.

The Hamburg-based Albert Ballin consortium, which bought Hapag-Lloyd, is seeking to renegotiate the terms of sale. At the same time, one of the banks supporting the action, Royal Bank of Scotland, is understood to be in the process of pulling out of the deal.

“The transaction changed and it no longer suited RBS to participate,” a source close to the deal told Lloyd’s List.

The container line was granted a $750 loan from an international banking consortium led by German banks HSH Nordbank and Hypovereinsbank to buy 29 container vessels from Tui, the parent of Hapag-Lloyd.

Hapag-Lloyd was valued at €4.5bn under the deal, including debt and the acquisition price for the vessels. Industry observers regarded the price as extraordinarily high, given the fact that the industry is in a major crisis.

Albert Ballin shareholders are due to €1.4bn as part of the transaction. Tui will continue to be a shareholder, with a stake of €700m. In addition, €2.4bn of debt was transferred to Hapag-Lloyd.