|
DUSSELDORF—TUI AG, Europe’s largest travel company and
owner of the Hapag-Lloyd shipping line, denied a report
that it is in merger talks with Neptune Orient Lines
Ltd., operator of Southeast Asia’s largest container
shipping business.
“There
are no negotiations going on between us and Neptune,”
TUI spokesman Robin Zimmermann said Monday. French
newspaper La Tribune reported in its January 10 edition
that TUI chief executive officer Michael Frenzel was
negotiating a merger with Neptune Orient and had visited
Singapore several times in recent weeks, citing a person
close to shareholders.
Shippers
including A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S have consolidated in
recent years to cut costs and add capacity. A.P.
Moeller, the world’s biggest shipping line, bought Royal
P&O
Nedlloyd NV in 2005 and TUI’s Hapag-Lloyd shipping unit bought CP Ships
Ltd. the same year to become the world’s fourth-largest
container line. TUI is based in
Hanover, Germany.
There
had been speculation last year that A.P. Moeller might
bid for Hapag-Lloyd.
The
French newspaper said a merger proposal would help
explain a financing operation announced January 9 by TUI,
involving the sale of bonds exchangeable for part of its
stake in TUI Travel Plc to raise €450 million ($665
million). It also said a TUI spokesman denied that any
negotiations were taking place.
Neptune
Orient spokesman Paul Barrett, reached Monday by
telephone, said that “Neptune Orient doesn’t comment on
rumors.”
Zimmermann reiterated that TUI plans to play a role in
the consolidation of the container shipping business. He
said Frenzel had made a routine visit to Singapore
recently.
According to La Tribune, TUI would merge with its Hapag-Lloyd
unit before raising capital and merging with Neptune
Orient. Singapore’s state-owned investment company
Temasek Holdings Pte, which owns 66 percent of the Asian
shipping line, would become the leading shareholder in
the new group, the newspaper said.
Temasek
declined to comment in an e-mailed response to questions
on the report in La Tribune.
Financial Times Deutschland said Monday, in a preview of
tomorrow’s edition, that TUI may merge Hapag-Lloyd with
TUI’s own parent company holding and transfer its
corporate headquarters to
Hamburg
from Hanover this year. The paper cited Frenzel for the
report.
TUI’s
management board wants to complete the integration of
the container shipping unit into the holding, Frenzel
told the newspaper. Hapag-Lloyd would lose its legal
autonomy if the plan is approved by TUI’s supervisory
board, making attempts to spin off the unit more
difficult, the FTD said.
“The
most important goal must be to prevent a spin-off of the
shipping business,” Frenzel said. Zimmerman confirmed
Monday that the supervisory board will meet later this
month. “Hapag-Lloyd is part of our core business,” he
said.
Investors have sought to influence TUI’s strategy in
recent months as the company has changed its structure.
In September, it formed its TUI Travel division,
Europe’s largest tourism company, following the merger
of TUI’s tourism unit with First Choice Holidays Plc.
The enlarged company sells vacations to 27 million
customers in 20 nations.
TUI
shares have risen 5 percent over the past 12 months,
lagging the 12-percent gain in the German CDAX Index
over the same period. They rose 2.1 percent on January
11 to €16.45.
Russian
investor Alexei Mordashov, who increased the stake he
controls in TUI to more than 3 percent in November, has
raised that further to 5.02 percent of the stock,
according to a TUI statement released January 11 on PR
Newswire.
He now
controls 12.6 million voting shares through Sungrebe
Investments Limited of Tortola, British Virgin Islands,
Artcone Limited of Limassol, Cyprus and S-Group Travel
Holding GmbH, based in
Frankfurt, Germany, the statement said.
Other
shareholders in TUI include Norwegian shipping
billionaire John Fredriksen.
US
investor Guy Wyser-Pratte, who has said he owns shares
in the company and has been critical of Frenzel’s
management in recent months, said Monday in a phone
interview that he had been “advocating a break-up of TUI
for a long time.”
“Any
move Michael Frenzel makes to consolidate his reign at
TUI is detrimental to shareholders,” Wyser-Pratte said.
“We don’t need more debt at TUI. I think he’ll have a
fight on his hands if he tries to purchase Neptune.”
Wyser-Pratte added that “it would make a lot more sense
for Neptune to purchase Hapag-Lloyd. That’s something
we’d support.” (Bloomberg) |
