German container shipping line, Hapag Lloyd have trimmed their initial public offering by 40% this week after announcing it is expecting to raise us$ 300 million for the sale of shares to investors.
The statement was released after the emissions-testing scandal at German car manufacturer Volkswagen and the slowdown of the Chinese economy sparked volatility on global stock markets.
The group aimed to raise us$ 500 million for re-invest in new ships and container equipment.
Hapag-Lloyd merged last year with the Chile based container carrier CSAV, Compania Sud Americana de Vapores in of Valparaiso, to become the world’s fourth-largest cargo line by capacity. Recently however Taiwanese based Evergreen took over 4th position to push back Hapag-Lloyd to fifth place.
German TUI, Europeans largest tourist group is holding 13.9% of the Hapag Lloyd shares but has been looking to sell their stakes in the container carrier for quite some time in order to focus back on their core business in the tourist sector. Nevertheless the tourism group is to offer up to 2.3 million existing shares, plus another 1.9 million to cover potential over-allotments, bringing the overall offer volume to as much as $410 million.
Klaus-Michael Kuehne and CSAV, which have agreed to hold a stake of at least 51% for the next 10 years also cut the total volume of their planned extra orders by 40% to reach us$ 60 million in stock.
CEO Rolf Habben Jansen of Hapag Lloyd said in a statement “Despite challenging capital market conditions we believe this is the right step for Hapag-Lloyd. Management and shareholders have decided to resize the offering volume to a level that enables Hapag-Lloyd’s future investment targets,”
