China Merchants Group looks set to takeover Sinotrans & CSC in the potential merger between the two shipping giants in China, Chinese financial media 21st Century Business Herald has reported.
A source who is close to Sinotrans & CSC told the portal that unlike the merger between Cosco and China Shipping, China Merchants Group might fully acquire Sinotrans & CSC as its subsidiary.
“It is a better way of merger between the two companies, there won’t be much major changes in business after the restructuring as the two groups don’t have lots of similar assets that could create conflicts in business,” the source was quoted as saying.
Three listed subsidiaries of Sinotrans & CSC Group have together made an announcement that they have received a notice from the parent group that it is currently working on a potential restructuring deal. In the announcement, subsidiaries of Sinotrans & CSC said the controller of the group might be changed after the restructuring.
However, there have been no announcements from China Merchants Group at this stage.
The two companies have already integrated their tanker assets by establishing joint venture China VLCC in 2014. As at the end of 2014, China Merchants Group and Sinotrans & CSC have total assets of RMB624.1bn ($98bn) and RMB109.1bn ($17.1bn) respectively.
