Seatrade-Maritime: MSC taking stake in Hapag-Lloyd dismissed as ‘fairy tale’

Published by Seatrade-Maritime

Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd were both quick to respond to enquiries about MSC’s interest in acquiring a stake in the German carrier, saying they did not respond to rumours.

MSC denied that their owner was ready to splash the cash on another carrier, denying the story altogether to Reuters, after the story was published in a German language report in Manager Magazin.

“Looks more like a fairy tale than a true story,” noted one observer close to Hapag-Lloyd.

Chilean liner operator CSAV and Klaus-Michael  Kühne, a billionaire businessman and part owner of Lufthansa and a majority shareholder, said to be more than 53%, in logistics company Kühne+Nagel, both are 30% shareholders in Hapag-Lloyd.

According to the Reuters report Aponte has persisted with discussions with Hapag-Lloyd’s “main shareholders for some ⁠time despite being brushed off”.