IPO: Hapag-Lloyd Raises $300 Million
Hapag-Lloyd AG, the German container shipping company, has succeeded in completing its initial public offering (IPO), after a hard campaign in which the outcome sometimes looked in doubt.
It has set the final offer price for its shares at €20 ($21.91), the low end of the bookbuilding range. The Container shipping line said it raised approximately $300 million in primary proceeds through the initial public offering.
The deal’s main target was to raise primary proceeds for the company. The target for this was reduced from $500m to $300m (€265m) at the start of the bookbuild on October 14, but Hapag-Lloyd has succeeded in raising that much.
The total placement volume amounts to approximately $345 million if the greenshoe option, which grants the underwriters the right to sell more shares, is fully exercised.
Several large investors had cancelled share orders after a profit warning from peer Maersk rocked already jittery markets.
The over-allotment shares stem from shareholder TUI AG. Shareholders Kuhne Maritime and Compania Sud Americana de Vapores participated with $30 million each in the capital increase.
Accoding to a report in Reuters, Maersk Line, the world's largest container shipping company which transports a fifth of all goods on the busiest routes between Asia and Europe, has been hit by overcapacities and a slump in freight rates.
Hapag-Lloyd is also suffering from the slowdown in global trade, but it is less exposed to the Asia-Europe route than Maersk and other peers as it focuses on the Europe-North America routes, which have benefited from a strong U.S. dollar.
Hapag-Lloyd shares are due to start trading on the Frankfurt and Hamburg stock exchanges Friday.
