Bruce Barnard, Special Correspondent | Feb 13, 2012 8:45AM EST
German tourism group TUI is set to sell a fresh tranche of shares in Hapag-Lloyd this week to the Albert Ballin consortium, the majority shareholder of the ocean container carrier.
TUI likely will announce the sale of an 18.4 percent stake for around $792 million at its annual shareholders’ meeting on Wednesday, according to German media reports. This would leave TUI with a stake of around 20 percent with the Albert Ballin partners owning the remainder of the world’s fifth largest carrier.
The city state of Hamburg, the carrier’s home port, has agreed to pay $554 million to become its biggest shareholder, with a stake of more than 37 percent from 23.6 percent at present, according to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.
Logistics billionaire Klaus-Michael Kuehne will pay $211 million for an undisclosed increase in his current 24.6 percent stake, while insurance companies Hanse-Merkur and Signal Iduna will spend $26.4 million on extra shares.
TUI originally planned to dispose of its entire holding to exit container shipping and focus on tourism. But the Albert Ballin consortium, which bought into Hapag-Lloyd in 2008, reportedly lacked the funds to achieve full ownership.
-- Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.