Gleiss Lutz advised Hamburgische Seefahrtsbeteiligung Albert Ballin GmbH & Co. KG (Albert Ballin consortium) on its acquisition of shares in Hapag-Lloyd, Germany’s largest shipping company. The Albert Ballin consortium currently has a stake of roughly 62 percent in Hapag-Lloyd and is now going to acquire additional shares from TUI AG. In addition the consortium will acquire hybrid II capital worth EUR 125 million which will subsequently be converted into shares.
The transaction is worth a total of EUR 700 million. Following execution of the transaction, which is to be completed by the end of June 2012, the Albert Ballin consortium and TUI will have stakes in Hapag-Lloyd Holding AG of roughly 78 percent and 22 percent, respectively.
Within the consortium the funds for the transaction will primarily be furnished by the holding company of the city of Hamburg (EUR 420 million) and Kühne Maritime GmbH (EUR 160 million), which is indirectly held by entrepreneur Klaus-Michael via Kühne Holding AG.
Gleiss Lutz advised the Albert Ballin consortium on the transaction together with a team from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, in particular during the negotiations with TUI AG. In addition Gleiss Lutz advised Kühne Maritime GmbH on the restructuring of the agreements within the Albert Ballin consortium.
The Gleiss Lutz team was made up of Dr. Andreas Rittstieg (lead), Dr. Patrick Mossler (both partners, corporate/M&A, Hamburg) and Dr. Till Soyka (corporate/M&A, Hamburg).
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