CSAV has finalized a share auction that raised $398 million toward a capital increase in Hapag-Lloyd that will make the Chilean company the leading shareholder in the world’s fourth largest ocean carrier.

CSAV will have a 34 percent stake in the German carrier it merged with last year to create a 200-ship container line transporting around 7.5 million TEUs a year and generating annual revenue of $12 billion.

“The success of this [share auction] is a strong support for the company by its shareholders, and in turn, recognition of the development plan that we have conducted in recent years, where we have become the majority shareholder of the world’s fourth largest container shipping company,” said Oscar Hasbun, chief executive of CSAV.

CSAV has made the major contribution to Hapag-Lloyd’s 370 million euros ($426 million) capital injection that will significantly reduce the stakes of the carrier’s seven current shareholders.

The other shareholders are: HGV, the Hamburg city state (23.2 percent), Kuhne Maritime (20.8 percent), TUI (13.9 percent), Signal Iduna (3.3 percent), HSH Nordbank (1.8 percent), MM Warburg (1.8 percent) and Hanse Markur (1.1 percent).

CSAV, HGV and Kuhne Maritime, which is owned by logistics billionaire Klaus-Michael Kuehne, have agreed to pool 51 percent of Hapag-Lloyd shares to enable them to make key decisions in the future.

CSAV will own 50 percent of the pool with HGV and Kuhne Maritime sharing the remaining 50 percent.

via: www.joc.com