A group of German investors aims to retain its grip on Hapag-Lloyd after TUI floats its stake in the container shipping company next year, several people familiar with the matter said.

The move may include finding a new anchor investor for Hapag-Lloyd, which could be a sovereign wealth fund, one of the people, who is close to the owners of Hapag-Lloyd, told Reuters.
"Klaus-Michael Kuehne will up his stake by roughly 10 percent but remain below the 25 percent threshold," the person said.

Kuehne is the chairman and majority owner of Switzerland-based logistics company Kuehne + Nagel , and he formed, together with other investors, the Albert Ballin consortium to buy a majority stake in Hapag-Lloyd from TUI.

"But some of the other members of the Albert Ballin owner consortium -- HSH and MM Warburg -- will sell their stakes," another person close to the owners said.

The city state of Hamburg, where Hapag-Lloyd is based, will hold onto its stake for now but is looking to exit in the medium term, several people said.

Hamburg owns 41 percent of the Albert Ballin consortium, while Kuehne holds 27 percent.

The consortium currently owns 57 percent of Hapag-Lloyd but that stake will be diluted to about 50 percent by the end of this year when TUI exercises a convertible bond.

"The aim is to have a block of investors post-IPO that has control over Hapag-Lloyd," the first person said, adding this may not have to be a majority stake.

A high free float of Hapag-Lloyd shares following an IPO could give a group shareholders with about 40 percent a majority of votes at shareholder meetings due to low participation levels at such gatherings.

TUI and the Albert Ballin consortium are currently gauging investor interest and are also reaching out to Singapore-based state fund Temasek, the person said.

"Kuehne and TUI have good contacts (with) ... them and Temasek has shown interest in Hapag-Lloyd in the past," the person added.
Any new anchor investor could take a stake of up to about 10 percent, the person said.

Temasek could not be immediately reached for comment.

Source: Cargonews Asia