COSCO Shipping (COSCO), Orient Overseas International (OOIL) and Shanghai Port Group (BVI) have released a joint annoucement confirming COSCO’s US$6.3 billion acquisition of OOIL has fulfilled the pre-conditions of its anti-trust review after the waiting period expired.
This means that US government regulators have found no antitrust violations with the proposed merger between liner carriers COSCO Shipping and OOIL — the Hong Kong-based parent of ocean carrier Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL).
The European Union is now the last remaining major antitrust regulator left to approve the filings.
Lars Jensen, CEO, SeaIntelligence, recently forecasted the industry’s developments as far into the future as 2025 in his 'Liner Shipping in 2025' technical paper
Last week (October 20, 2017), an exchange filing showed that COSCO Shipping’s shareholders had approved the offer to acquire OOIL.
COSCO will hold 90.1% of shares while SIPG will hold the remaining 9.9% stake in OOIL.
Based on existing fleet and orderbooks, the combined COSCO-OOCL entity would become the world’s third largest container carrier with 400 vessels — overtaking its partner in the Ocean Alliance, CMA CGM.
Read more: According to shipping consultancy Drewry, the biggest impact of COSCO acquiring OOIL will be felt most in Intra-Asia, where both carriers already have a large presence
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