The Chinese terminalista company COSCO Shipping Ports has signed today with Germany's Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) the definitive agreement to carry out, through the company wholly owned subsidiary Grand Dragon, the acquisition of over 1.9 million shares of Container Terminal Tollerort (CTT), equal to 24.99% of the share capital of the German company it manages the container terminal of the same name in the port of Hamburg.

The transaction, worth €80 million, was strongly opposed by several parts of German politics that do not considered it appropriate for a Chinese company to enter a Strategic logistics hub for the nation, opposition that has translated into the ban imposed by the Berlin government to give up more 24.99% of CTT's share capital compared to 35.0% initially agreed by COSCO Shipping Ports with HHLA which so far holds the entire capital of the terminal CTT and that in the port of Hamburg manages two more terminals for larger capacity containers ( of 21 September 2021 and 26 October 2022).

The German government has also imposed limits on decision-making powers. of the Grand Dragon, prohibiting the Chinese company from placing the right to veto strategic business decisions, including definition of the budget and business plan, and to have a voice in chapter on CTT's decisions concerning its staff. It is provided among other things that if HHLA decides to sell a share of CTT equal to at least 25% of the share capital, with the consequent reduction of the joint participation of HHLA and Grand Dragon below 75.1% of CTT's share capital, Grand Dragon may take advantage of the tag-along clause and will be entitled to participate in the sale under the same conditions.