Danish shipping firm Maersk Line to buy German rival Hamburg Sud

Danish container shipping company Maersk Line has agreed to acquire German rival Hamburg Sud, in a bid to boost its presence in global trade, the Danish transport and logistics company announced on Thursday.

As the world's seventh largest container shipping line and a leader in the North-South trades, Hamburg Sud under the Oetker Group operates 130 container vessels with a container capacity of 625,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent).

"Hamburg Sud complements Maersk Line," Soeren Skou, CEO of Maersk Line and the Maersk Group, said in a press release.

The deal came after Maersk Line announced in September that it would grow market share organically and through acquisitions.

"The acquisition of Hamburg Sud is in line with our growth strategy and will increase the volumes of both Maersk Line and APM Terminals," said Skou.

"Giving up our engagement in shipping after an 80 year-long ownership in Hamburg Sud was not an easy decision for my family. We are very confident, though, to have chosen the best of all possible partners," said August Oetker, chairman of the advisory board of the management holding company of the Oetker Group.

"By joining forces, both Maersk and Hamburg Sud will strengthen their product portfolio and cost position to the benefit of their customers," said Ottmar Gast, chairman of the executive board of the Hamburg Sud Group.

With the acquisition, Maersk Line will have container capacity of around 3.8 million TEU and an 18.6 percent global capacity share. The combined fleet will consist of 741 container vessels.

Maersk said the acquisition is subject to final agreement and regulatory approvals, and it expects the completion of the regulatory process and the transaction by the end of 2017. Endit