Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) Group, a Swiss-Italian international shipping line operating both passenger and cargo services plans to acquire Bolloré Africa Logistics for $6.4 billion.
“Bolloré Group has granted the MSC Group exclusivity until March 31, 2022, to enable MSC, further to an additional due diligence phase and contractual negotiations, to submit a put option,” MSC Group said December in an announcement.
Put options give the purchaser the right (but not the obligation) to sell stock to the creator of the options contract at a set price in the future.
“The Bolloré Group’s decision to exercise this put option and the signature of the relevant agreements may only take place after the competent employee representative bodies have been informed and consulted and certain internal reorganisation operations have been carried out within the Bolloré Group.”
MSC Group’s cargo division includes the shipping company MSC operating 570 container vessels, while the passenger division encompasses MSC Cruises and ferry companies GNV and SNAV providing services across the Mediterranean. It employs over 100,000 people.
Completion of the sale would require the approval of regulatory and competition authorities, as well as of certain counterparties of Bolloré Africa Logistics. The Bolloré group will report on the outcome of these exclusive negotiations in due course.
Founded in 1822, the Bolloré Group is one of the 500 largest companies in the world. Listed on the Paris Stock Exchange, the majority interest of the Group’s stock is always controlled by the Bolloré family.
Its subsidiary, Bolloré Africa Logistics, is the biggest transport and logistics operator in Africa, where it has a network without equal with 250 subsidiaries and almost 21,000 employees in 49 countries, including 47 in Africa.
Vespucci Maritime CEO Lars Jensen says the battle for the logistics market “had just amplified significantly. And keep in mind we are in the beginning phase of the battle for the global logistics markets – this will intensify further going forward.”
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