Ports, because MSC’s landing in Hamburg also touches Trieste
MSC and the city of Hamburg secure over 92% of HHLA's shares. What is changing in German ports and what will the implications be for Trieste?
The Swiss shipping company MSC has reached an important milestone and taken a decisive step in its planned investment in Hamburger Hafen und Logistik Ag (HHLA). MSC and the City of Hamburg now hold 92.3% of the port operator's shares.
The shipping company announced this on Tuesday evening, after the final deadline of the public takeover offer to the port operator's shareholders. The shipping company's mandatory announcement certifies that MSC shareholders tendered 9.74% of HHLA shares during the acceptance period of approximately six weeks. Following the purchase of Hhla shares on the open market, MSC also holds an additional 12.21% of Hhla shares. This is in addition to the approximately 70.35% previously held by the Hanseatic City of Hamburg.
THE IMPORTANT GOAL OF 90% EXCEEDED
This means that a major hurdle for the controversial deal has been overcome. Since the shipping company and the city own more than 90% of the shares, they can force other shareholders out of the company, in a so-called squeeze-out. The remaining shareholders will likely receive a compensation offer. However, things could still drag on: if some shareholders and employees decide to speak out against the deal, legal action could be taken.
The operation also has repercussions in Italy, since the concession of Hhla Plt Italy, a tricolor company of the German group of the same name that manages the dock known as the Logistics Platform of Trieste, was extended for 10 years by the Port System Authority of Julian capital.
HANSEATIC CITY AND MSC INTEND TO MANAGE HHLA TOGETHER
For Sören Toft, CEO of MSC, it is a great success. “We are in an excellent position to advance our common plans,” said Toft, “our goal is for the Port of Hamburg to play an even more important role in the concert of world ports.
The city of Hamburg and MSC want to operate HHLA as a joint venture in the future, with the Swiss company holding a maximum of 49.9% and the city 50.1%. The two parties have already agreed to strengthen HHLA's capital by a total of 450 million euros. According to analysts, the port logistics company will need a lot of money in the coming years to modernize Hamburg's container terminals.
THE HAMBURG PARLIAMENT WILL DEAL WITH IT AT THE BEGINNING OF 2024
The affair has raised great controversy in the Hamburg political world, almost splitting the majority and opposition parties in the Land assembly (Hamburg, like Berlin and Bremen, has city-state status and therefore its administration is equivalent to that of the Länder) and sometimes individual parties within themselves. The Senator for Economic Affairs of Hamburg (the equivalent of an Italian regional councilor but with the increased powers that German federalism assigns to the Länder), Melanie Leonhard of the SPD, for example, declared herself enthusiastic. “The world's largest shipping company is thus making a decisive and long-term commitment to the Port of Hamburg,” he told reporters, “and the integration into a further global network will bring an additional flow of goods and contribute to the development of the port. Today's result takes us an important step forward on this path."
Now further steps are awaited, such as approval by the antitrust authorities. Furthermore, the Hamburg parliament still has to give its approval. The issue should be dealt with at the beginning of next year and the confrontation between the parties will certainly be bitter.
OPPOSITIONS AND UNIONS REMAIN SKEPTICAL
The opposition in Hamburg's parliament remains sceptical. “The Senate (the body that governs the city) is throwing itself at the mercy of a single company, for better or for worse,” said Krzysztof Walczak of the nationalist AfD party. Walczak accused the Senate of not examining all possible alternatives.
However, criticism also comes from other sectors of the opposition. “The fact that MSC has collected a sufficient number of shares does not change the reality that the agreement is fundamentally wrong,” said Norbert Hackbusch of Linke, the left-wing party, while according to Götz Wiese of the CDU “with MSC the port of Hamburg it will not be well positioned at all.” For the Christian Democrat politician "state property has been sold far below its value and there is no recognizable strategy".
The Ver.di union, workers' representatives and part of the opposition in parliament fear a worsening of working conditions at HHLA. MSC and the city of Hamburg counter with the fact that significant promises have been made to employees, such as the exclusion of dismissals for operational reasons for at least five years.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/msc-porto-amburgo-conseguenze-trieste/ on Thu, 14 Dec 2023 07:11:39 +0000.