After much talk of a union between the German transport and travel giant TUI's Hapag-Lloyd container line with Singapore's Neptune Orient Lines, eyes have now turned to a possible merger with Hamburg Sud, say European press reports.
Both Germany's Die Welt and Britain's Financial Times report that while the NOL deal is not dead, greater expectations now reside on a possible tie-up with Hamburg Sud.
Die Welt reported that the Hamburg city administration is working hard on Oetker Group, Hamburg Sud's parent and with Hapag Lloyd parent TUI AG to prevent a buyout of Hapag-Lloyd by a foreign company, thought to be APL, the container shipping arm of Singapore's NOL.
The Financial Times said the TUI AG supervisory board was to meet on Monday to vote on plans of chief executive Michael Frenzel to enable Hamburg-based Hapag-Lloyd to be a part of consolidation that would leave the market in the hands of a few big players.
Mr Frenzel has explored merging Hapag-Lloyd with Neptune Orient Lines, controlled by the Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek, and people on the German side have suggested a deal may still be possible, the FT reported.
Non-executive directors last month postponed a vote about Mr Frenzel's plan to merge TUI's headquarters in Hanover with Hapag-Lloyd's in Hamburg - important for any deal as TUI owns the ships while Hapag-Lloyd operates them.
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