Earlier this morning, the German federal government decided to prevent Chinese terminalist group COSCO Shipping Ports from acquiring 35% percent of the capital of the terminalist company HHLA Container Terminal Tolerort (CTT) operating a container terminal in the port of Hamburg by applying a limit (partial prohibition) related to the acquisition of investments in strategic assets by foreign companies.

The executive's decision implies that the Chinese group could acquire a share of CTTs of less than 25% percent of the capital by being prohibited from acquisitions exceeding this threshold as well as the acquisition of special rights. Conditionality is under obligation as this has consequences on the deal to buy the stake that COSCO Shipping Ports has entered into more than a year ago with the German terminalist group Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) which currently holds 100% of CTT ( of the September 21 2021).

The partial prohibition also requires that the 25% threshold could not be exceeded even in the future without the carrying out of an investment review procedure and prohibits buyers from obtaining in any other way a stake effective in the control of CTT. The ban on acquiring special rights, moreover, implies that the buyer cannot veto strategic decisions or concerning the company's staff. The partial ban also prevents the appointment of components of the board of directors or entities in operational managerial positions.

The Ministry of Economy of Berlin said the decision was taken for "public order and public safety reasons", said this was preventing a strategic acquisition in CTT and reduced the acquisition to a mere financial participation.