China Cosco Shipping Holdings has announced on Friday that it has received approval from the Anti-monopoly Bureau of China for the takeover of Hong Kong’s OOIL, the parent of container shipping line OOCL, one day earlier than the intended deadline of June 30.
After receiving the approval, Cosco said all the preconditions to the takeover deal have been fulfilled.
Last year, Cosco gained approvals from US and EU antitrust regulators for the $6.3bn takeover deal.
In June, The Wall Street Journal reported Cosco had offered a solution to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to ease concerns about OOCL handing its Long Beach terminal concession to Cosco.
According to Alphaliner, Cosco will run a combined fleet of around 400 vessels with an annual capacity of around 2.7m teu once the merger is complete, making it the third largest ocean carrier in the world.
