Kuehne to raise stake in Hapag-Lloyd

Frankfurt (Reuters): A group of German investors aims to retain its grip on Hapag-Lloyd after TUI AG floats its stake in the container shipping company next year, several people familiar with the matter said.

The move may include finding a new anchor investor for Hapag-Lloyd, which could be a sovereign wealth fund, one of the people, who is close to the owners of Hapag-Lloyd, told Reuters on Friday.

“Klaus-Michael Kuehne will up his stake by roughly 10 percent but remain below the 25 percent threshold”, the person said.

Kuehne is the chairman and majority owner of Switzerland-based logistics company Kuehne + Nagel, and he formed, together with other investors, the Albert Ballin consortium to buy a majority stake in Hapag-Lloyd from TUI.

“But some of the other members of the Albert Ballin owner consortium -and MM Warburg -- will sell their stakes,” another person close to the owners said.

The city state of Hamburg, where Hapag-Lloyd is based, will hold onto its stake for now but is looking to exit in the medium term, several people said.