SINGAPORE sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings'
planned sale of shipper Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) offers
potential buyers a modern fleet at a comparative bargain price expected to be
around US$2 billion, Reuters reports, citing industry and banking
sources.
Industry
sources say NOL's new ships and 2.8 per cent slice of the global
container shipping business can be expected to appeal to players seeking an
edge over rivals. Qatar-controlled United Arab Shipping Company (UASC)
can be expected to join the likes of Germany's Hapag-Lloyd and Hamburg
Sud in running the rule over NOL, they said.
Temasek, with
nearly $200 billion in assets, recently hired Citigroup to seek buyers
for the majority stake in NOL it bought in 2004 for S$2.8 billion (US$2
billion), they said, triggering the sale of the whole firm under Singapore
rules.
NOL has made
losses in five of the past six years, but the bank's task may have become
easier after the carrier made a small net profit in April-June after six
straight quarters of losses.
Buyers are
expected to offer 30 per cent more than NOL's current market value of about
$1.8 billion - the usual premium paid to acquire a publicly traded company,
bankers said. Both Citi and Temasek declined comment.
While not
ruling out a sale NOL chief executive Ng Yat Chung said: "Hypothetically, if
I receive a good price for the business, we will always consider selling. What
I can say now is that the company is totally focused on returning the liner
business into profitability."
Adding to
NOL's appeal is the fact that a buyer would gain a young fleet for around half
the cost of new vessels, said Andy Lane, a partner at Singapore's CTI Consultancy.
"My
favourite motivation for the buy remains fleet renewal," said Mr Lane.
"There is global overcapacity, but shippers also need to keep their fleets
right-sized, flexible and young."
Source :
HKSG.
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