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Hapag-Lloyd shareholders pave the way for UASC merger

Hapag-Lloyd shareholders on Friday approved all items on the AGM agenda, paving the way for the merger with Middle Eastern line, UASC.

Shareholders approved the creation of new authorised share capital to be used for the merger with UASC, which is to be incorporated into Hapag-Lloyd as a contribution in kind. The shareholders also approved the expansion of the Supervisory Board from the current twelve members to 16, which is to take place once the merger with UASC is concluded. This expansion is due to the current majority shareholders of UASC, Qatar Holding LLC (QH) and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), each being set to receive a place on the Hapag-Lloyd Supervisory Board upon conclusion of the merger. The merger is still subject to antitrust approvals.

“The pending merger with UASC is another strategic milestone for Hapag- Lloyd. We intend to bring the skills of Hapag-Lloyd and UASC together in such a way that the company is in a stronger position to face both current and future industry challenges. Hapag-Lloyd is not only growing, it is also becoming more international and, above all, more competitive,” said Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd while addressing the approximately 300 shareholders in attendance. “This merger gives us the large vessels we need in order to achieve low transport costs per container. With the investments already made by UASC in these ship classes, Hapag-Lloyd will not need to make any more investments in large vessels in the next few years.”

He continued: “With this merger, we are consolidating our position among the world’s five biggest container shipping companies in the long term and are considerably increasing the gap between us and the shipping companies that come after us. We expect the combination of Hapag-Lloyd and UASC to reap us further significant improvements in our profitability and we firmly believe that the merger will allow us to rise to the various industry challenges even better and more strongly than ever before.”

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.
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