Overview:
- The Chinese government has restructured $20 billion of assets by merging elements of two state-owned container-shipping companies.
- The merger of the assets of China Shipping Group and
China Ocean Shipping Group's will create the world’s fourth biggest container-shipping company
COSCO.
- Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Grandall Law Firm advised China Shipping Group.
- Paul Hastings and Commerce & Finance Law Offices advised China Ocean Shipping Group.
- Slaughter and May and JunHe advised COSCO Pacific.
More information
The deal involves assets in five key businesses: container-shipping, dry-bulk shipping, port operation, container leasing and oil shipping.
A series of transactions will enable COSCO to shift its focus towards container-shipping and port operation while China Shipping will specialise in oil shipping, container leasing and related financial services.
COSCO will acquire China Shipping’s container-shipping business for $177 million and through subsidiary COSCO Pacific, buy the port operation arm of China Shipping for $1.2 billion.
China Shipping, through its Hong Kong-listed subsidiary China Shipping Container Lines, will buy container leasing business Florens Container Holdings from COSCO Pacific for $1.3 billion; and through another Hong Kong listed subsidiary China Shipping Development, will acquire Dalian Ocean Shipping, an oil tanker shipping business from COSCO.
Deal is part of Chinese government's strategy to restructure state-owned enterprises to maximize Chinese companies’ ability to compete overseas.
Adam Majeed - Asia editor
