The offer period has officially expired and the 90% of shares that MSC had hoped to acquire in HHLA have not been acquired.
From MSC’s point of view, progress is only being made in small steps. When the official offer period ended at midnight on Monday, the city and shipping company held a good 84% of the shares. Sufficient for the planned entry of the No. 1 in container shipping into the terminal operator HHLA, but not enough to force out the remaining shareholders – for a “squeeze out” it would have to be 90% of the shares. [ds_preview]
It is very likely that there will now be a second round, an extension of the offer until the beginning of December. The Aponte company is offering €16.75 per A-share. But only just under 4% of the shares could be added to the 10% held so far. The city itself holds 69%. In future, it will hold 50.1%, while MSC wants to hold 49.9%.
MSC offers, shareholders still hesitant
The Hamburg economic authorities are now confident that further shareholders will sell by then. However, they do not need to speculate on a higher offer. The company had ruled this out from the outset.
The Hamburg Parliament is expected to vote on the deal at the beginning of next year. All relevant contracts will then be made available. The Senate as well as the Executive Board and Supervisory Board of HHLA had already backed the project. However, many HHLA employees oppose the deal, primarily out of concern for jobs and co-determination within the company.
