The impending breakup of Hapag-Lloyd's parent group TUI is causing serious concerns among German businessmen, politicians and trade unionists who are keen to preserve the German container line as an independent entity.
TUI’s supervisory board gave the go-ahead for a separation of the shipping business by way of a sale, merger or listing on the stock exchange. The company will investigate all options in the coming months and hopes to implement a solution by year-end, said chief executive Michael Frenzel at the annual general meeting in Hanover. Trade union representatives on the supervisory board have grudgingly agreed with the plan. However, they made it clear that they expect a “local solution” for Hapag instead of a takeover or merger. Founded over 160 years ago in the Hansestadt, Hapag today ranks fifth among the global container lines with market share in terms of capacity of about 4%. The line more than doubled its operating profit to €197M last year. TUI’s split from shipping has been instigated by a powerful group of shareholders including Norway’s John Fredriksen and US investor Guy Wyser-Pratte.
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