Finances - MSC takeover bid for port logistics company HHLA expires
The major shipping company MSC and the City of Hamburg are almost at the finish line in their plans for the Hamburg port logistics company HHLA. After the final closing of the MSC purchase offer to HHLA shareholders on Friday night, MSC and the City of Hamburg should together hold at least a good 88 percent of HHLA shares - enough to be able to run HHLA as a joint venture in the future as planned.
Whether the threshold of 90 percent will also be reached will probably not be known until next week. Experience shows that it takes several days for the result of a takeover bid to be precisely determined. The 90 percent threshold is decisive for the fact that the remaining shareholders can then be forced to transfer their shares against their will - the technical term for this is squeeze-out.
HHLA shareholders had the opportunity to accept the MSC offer during the acceptance period from October 23 to November 20 and then again during the statutory "further acceptance period" until December 7. MSC had offered EUR 16.75 per HHLA share. Experience shows that many shareholders only decide to sell their shares at the very end.
By November 20, the world's largest shipping company had been offered just under 5.9 percent of HHLA shares for sale. More recent information is not available. MSC already owned just under 10 percent and has since acquired a further 2 percent according to daily mandatory reports. The city's current share is around 70 percent.
The City of Hamburg and MSC intend to run HHLA as a joint venture in future, with MSC holding a maximum of 49.9 percent and the city 50.1 percent. MSC and the city have already agreed to strengthen HHLA's equity by a total of 450 million euros. The port logistics company will need a lot of money in the coming years to modernize the container terminals in Hamburg.
MSC and the city counter the fears of employees and the trade union Verdi with the fact that significant promises have been made to employees. For example, redundancies for operational reasons have been ruled out for at least five years. "It has also been set out in black and white for the employees that the existing co-determination will be retained," they said.
MSC announcement on the result of the takeover bid to date MSC announcement on the takeover bid Offer document WpÜG
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Source: www.stern.de
