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Klaus-Michael Kühne battles CSAV’s Luksic family for control of Hapag-Lloyd

One of Hamburg’s richest men, Klaus-Michael Kühne, appears once again to be fighting for control of his local shipping line.

The share price of Hapag-Lloyd has been in record territory this month with many speculating that Kühne is fighting it out with the line’s other largest shareholder, the Luksic family-controlled CSAV, to run the company.

Alphaliner noted that Hapag-Lloyd’s share price has leapt by more 130% this year. This month, share trading got more fevered with Hapag-Lloyd’s price leaping by more than EUR10 on August 6 and has since continued up, closing yesterday at EUR52.10.

Kühne Maritime’s interest in Hapag-Lloyd, the world’s fifth largest containerline, has increased from 20.5% at the start of 2018 to 26.2% at the end of June 2019, while CSAV’s stake has increased from 25.5% to 27.5% during the same period.

Hapag-Lloyd’s market capitalisation has surged to EUR9.05bn on the back of its recent share price increase. The company is currently valued at 1.44 times the book value, according to Alphaliner, compared to an average industry valuation of just 1.01 times book value based on the current share price of twelve listed liner shipping companies.

In the past, Kühne has fended off a number of other takeover bids for the German line.

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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