TUI to tender Hapag-Lloyd shares to Ballin consortium

Not that long after a December 5 statement from Singapore’s NOL saying that it “currently, is not making another bid for a stake in Hapag-Lloyd,” Germany’s TUI Group today announced “another major step on the path towards exiting container shipping.”

TUI currently holds a stake of around 38.4 per cent in Hapag-Lloyd. It has now decided to tender a 33.3 per cent stake in the container shipping giant  to the Hamburg-based Albert Ballin consortium. TUI is thus using a contractually agreed exit right that had to be exercised by January 2, 2012 at the latest.

“Our exit from container shipping was set down more than three years ago with all partners in the Hamburg-based consortium. In the current year we have already reduced our invested capital by one billion euros. Exercising our tender right is now the next consistent step”, says TUI CEO Michael Frenzel.

Should an agreement on the value of the stake not be reached in a first phase of the tender process, the market value will be determined by an auditor acting as arbitrator, applying the principles of IDW S1 (principles for the appraisal of enterprises as issued by the German Auditors’ Institute) on the basis of Hapag-Lloyd’s expected future earning power.

Should a sales contract with Albert Ballin not be drawn up by the end of September 2012 at the latest, TUI will be entitled to sell the majority in Hapag-Lloyd to third-party investors.

In that case TUI could sell all remaining shares. The Hamburg-based Ballin consortium would then have to sell the required number of Hapag-Lloyd shares to the same investor at the same price to give the buyer majority control.

Could that buyer be NOL?

“NOL evaluates investment opportunities from time to time and will make the necessary announcements when appropriate,” said the December 5 announcement.

December 13, 2011