TUI is come to an agreement with the Albert Ballin consortium in order to reduce its participation in Hapag-Lloyd to 22%



After some weeks of negotiations the terms of the cession of a part of the share quota German group TUI in the shipowning company Hapag-Lloyd di Amburgo to the Albert Ballin consortium are agreed definitively, that it is constituted by the administration of the city of Amburgo and by Holding Kühne, Signal Iduna, HSH Nordbank, M.M.Warburg Bank and HanseMerkur ( on 13 December 2011).

Currently TUI stops 38.4% about of Hapag-Lloyd and the consortium the remaining quota. Giving I keep on the understanding, is returned note tonight, such quota will come down to 22% about, while the quota the city administration of Amburgo, that Hamburger Gesellschaft für Vermögens- und Beteiligungsmanagement stops the participation in Hapag Lloyd through public society HGV (mbH), will go up to 36.9%.

Based on the agreement, that it is subject to the approval of the shareholders of Albert Ballin, in the earlier stage Hapag-Lloyd will reimburse before the end of the current month a part of the hybrid loan Hybrid II pairs to 100 million euros, loan that takes part of the program of restructure of the shipowning society, while within next 30 March the Albert Ballin consortium will acquire from vital TUI of Hybrid II for 125 million euros to the nominal value.

Therefore the consortium and TUI will transfer every 125 million euros of capital of Hybrid II to Hapag-Lloyd in exchange for set in action of the new issue company; as a result of such operation the participation of group TUI in Hapag-Lloyd will go up temporary from 38.4% to 39.5%. Successively, within next the 29 june, Albert Ballin it will acquire 17.4% of the capital stock of Hapag-Lloyd from total TUI for 475 million euros, transaction that will approximately involve the reduction of the participation of TUI to 22%.

The new total investment of the Albert Ballin consortium in Hapag-Lloyd will pile therefore to 600 million euros, of which very 420 million euros at the expense of the city administration of Amburgo (HGV), 160 million euros at the expense of the entrepreneur of the logistics Klaus-Michael Kühne (Holding Kühne), 13 million euros by HanseMerkur and seven million euro from Signal Iduna. From part its group TUI will receive 700 million euros altogether.

At last, in the within of the terms of the emission of bond by Hapag-Lloyd in 2010, in April 2013 the shipowning society will start an offer of buyback regarding TUI for riacquisire sets in action own for a total value of 37,5 million euros, operation that will involve an ulterior reduction of the quota TUI in Hapag-Lloyd. TUI moreover maintains the right is to at the end start an initial public offer of the next june that to yield remaining sets in action of the shipowning company in its possession to investor third party.

The agreement is received with satisfaction from the mayor of Amburgo, Olaf Scholz. "The representatives of the Albert Ballin consortium, of which city society HGV takes part - it has emphasized the mayor - has obtained good results that it safeguards the interests of our city and the requirements of the shipowning society. The shipowning company - it has added - is all-important for the local economy and the port. The increase of the quota the city to 36.9% - it has specified Scholz - is not destined to being permanent, but it is according to the current situation of safeguard of the sustainable places of work of the historical company of navigation of Amburgo".

Satisfaction also by the managing director of the amburghese shipowning society: "Hapag-Lloyd, management and all the dependent - Michael Behrendt has commented - are pleased of this solution and also because this agreement is reached so quickly. This is a good solution, as it ulteriorly strengthens the ties of Hapag-Lloyd with Amburgo and its port".

Behrendt has remembered that Hapag-Lloyd determines handling of about half of the traffic of the container of the port of Amburgo and that the Asian company has five partner in Grand Alliance, consortium that founded in 1997, and with the G6 Alliance, that the next month will begin the activity.