Hapag-Lloyd Advances IPO Plans

By Arno Schuetze and Alexander Hübner

FRANKFURT, July 15 (Reuters) – German container delivery group Hapag-Lloyd is dashing up preparations for an preliminary public providing (IPO) and has picked Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Berenberg to guide the transaction, two folks acquainted with the matter stated.

A flotation of a minority stake might worth the world’s fourth-largest delivery group at greater than 5 billion euros ($5.5 billion) and will happen as early as autumn, Dow Jones reported earlier on Wednesday.

Hapag Lloyd and the banks declined to remark.

When it introduced its merger with the container delivery actions of Chilean rival Vapores final 12 months, Hapag-Lloyd stated it might search to checklist on the inventory alternate.

But CEO Rolf Habben Jansen stated in May a flotation was extra possible after 2015.

Europe’s largest tourism group TUI, which holds 13.9 % in Hapag, has careworn prior to now that it needs to promote its stake within the occasion of an IPO as a part of a technique to focus solely on tourism actions.

The Vapores proprietor household holds 34 % within the mixed group, whereas the town of Hamburg holds 23.2 % and entrepreneur Klaus-Michael Kuehne holds 20.8 %, with smaller stakes held by monetary buyers.

High inventory market valuations have led a number of teams to hurry up flotation plans.

In Germany, mortgage lender Pfandbriefbank, which is slated to have its debut on Thursday, opted for an early time slot.

Bayer’s plastics maker Covestro, development supplies group Xella and packaging group Mauser have additionally introduced ahead IPO plans.

Hapag-Lloyd swung to a first-quarter revenue this 12 months, because of the stronger U.S. greenback, decrease gasoline costs and the primary results of its merger.

Chief Executive Rolf Habben Jansen has beforehand stated the corporate wish to get three or 4 good quarters beneath its belt earlier than floating a minority stake. ($1 = 0.9107 euros) (Reporting by Alexander Hübner and Arno Schuetze; extra reporting by Victoria Bryan; Editing by Georgina Prodhan)