COSCO Shipping Holdings’ Shareholders Okay OOIL Takeover:

The shareholders of COSCO Shipping Holdings Co. passed special resolutions at the extraordinary general meeting held on October 16, approving the takeover bid of Orient Overseas (International) Limited.

The takeover offer was made in July this year when COSCO Shipping Holdings and Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG) placed a pre-conditional voluntary general offer to acquire all issued OOIL’s shares at an offer price of HKD 78.67 (USD 10.07) in cash, totaling in USD 6.3 billion.

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

Now that the COSCO Shipping Holdings’ shareholders gave the green light to the approval, the bid is now dependent on the necessary regulatory approvals.

The latest approval comes on the back of the clearance received from 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.

As informed earlier, COSCO Shipping and OOIL, parent of OOCL, would continue to operate under their respective brands, and would continue to work together as members of the Ocean Alliance.

Source from http://worldmaritimenews.com