EU okays COSCO’s OOCL takeover

Monday, 18 December 2017 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The European Commission has given the green light to COSCO Shipping’s bid to take over Orient Overseas (International) Ltd.

Under the offer launched in July, COSCO Shipping Holdings and Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG) seek to acquire all issued OOIL shares at an offer price of HKD 78.67 ($ 10.07) in cash, totalling in $ 6.3 billion.

On completion of the transaction, COSCO would hold 90.1%, while SIPG would hold 9.9% of OOIL.

“The joint offerors are pleased to announce that with respect to anti-trust review in the EU under the EU Merger Regulation, on December 5, 2017, the European Commission made a decision to allow the offer to proceed. Accordingly, pre-condition (c) has been fulfilled,” a joint statement reads.

The approval of the bid follows the clearance from COSCO Shipping’s shareholders received in October and that of State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) in September.

The combined entity, if the merger is completed, would become the world’s third largest container carrier, according to shipping consultancy Drewry.

Specifically, the duo would have a combined fleet of 400 vessels operated over a much-expanded network, with the capacity exceeding 2.9 million TEUs including orderbook, pushing CMA CGM from its spot.

COSCO and SIPG said they would continue to work on meeting the remaining pre-conditions for the deal to be finalised.