Banking syndicate provides USD 750 million financing for 29 container vessels
Hamburg, Kiel, October 16, 2008 - A banking syndicate led by Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank AG and HSH Nordbank AG together with another four banks today signed a USD 750 million loan for Hapag-Lloyd AG for the financing of a fleet of 29 container vessels.
Acting as coordinators, Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank (Markets & Investment Banking division) and HSH Nordbank AG brought together a syndicate for the financing, in which DekaBank Girozentrale, Dresdner Bank AG, KfW IPEX Bank and The Royal Bank of Scotland are represented as further bookrunners and mandated lead arrangers.
The financing has a term of 5 years and will be used by Hapag-Lloyd AG to buy back a fleet of 29 container ships from its parent company TUI. This transaction is used to dissolve HAPAG-Lloyd AG out of TUI group in line with the recent sale of HAPAG-Lloyd AG.
The vessels financed have a container loading capacity of between 2,000 and 7,500 standard container (TEU) each and a combined capacity of 118,000 TEU. The vessels mostly sail under a German flag.
Hapag-Lloyd AG focuses on global container traffic. With the takeover of CP Ships in 2005, the company is one of the top 5 shipping lines with global operations. The Hamburg-based shipping company is represented in more than 130 countries and has around 320 sales offices. The organization extends over five regions: Northern Europe, Southern Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia. In the first half of 2008 Hapag-Lloyd AG generated sales totaling around € 3 billion. The global transportation volume came to some 2.8 million TEU during the same period, up 2 percent on the corresponding period in 2007. Hapag-Lloyd AG sets the standard in terms of customer-friendliness, service and productivity within the sector. The fleet consists of 133 container vessels with a capacity of some 500,000 TEU. Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten is one of the leading operators offering premium and luxury cruises in the German-speaking world.
HSH Nordbank is the world’s leading provider of ship finance with total business amounting to approximately € 30 billion in 2007 in its Shipping unit and around 3,000 ships in its portfolio. Its range of products for shipping companies operating on an international scale includes, in particular, long-term ship-mortgage loans, finance during construction as well as structured ship finance. The Bank assists its customers both in carrying out projects to build new vessels and in purchasing ships from other sources. In so doing, HSH Nordbank focuses its operations particularly on the three markets of container vessels, tankers and bulk cargo freighters. Yet HSH Nordbank also provides tailor-made solutions for a large variety of specialized ships. Alongside the pure credit business, HSH Nordbank is increasingly active in the provision of comprehensive advice to shipping companies. A large number of structured and innovative finance deals serve to cover all potential financial service requirements. Innovative instruments for hedging interest, currency and oil-price risks (e.g. trend of bunker costs) round off the range of products. Here, HSH Nordbank provides solutions aimed at hedging risk, which are tailored to specific circumstances.
The Markets & Investment Banking division is the competence center for all investment-banking activities of the companies that form part of the UniCredit Group. The pooling of the investment-banking activities of Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank AG, Bank Austria Creditanstalt AG and former Capitalio S.A. has led to the creation of an international investment-banking platform that acts as a regional specialist, providing investment-banking services in 22 core markets. HypoVereinsbank’s Global Shipping with headquarters in Hamburg and representative offices in Piraeus, Oslo and Singapore is the competence center of HypoVereinsbank/ UniCredit Group for the maritime industry, both domestic and foreign. At the end of 2007 HypoVereinsbank’s ship financing volume for around 1,000 vessels came to EUR 8 billion; including the UniCredit Group figures, the financing volume totaled EUR 9.5 billion at the end of 2007. This means that HypoVereinsbank now numbers among the world’s top ten largest providers of ship finance. In sector-specific terms, Global Shipping is active in traditional merchant shipping, plus one team each for offshore and maritime logistics (mainly container box financing).
For further information go to
www.hapag-lloyd.com www.hsh-nordbank.de www.hvb.de/globalshipping und www.unicreditmib.eu
The information contained in this press release does not constitute an offer for the sale of any type of Hamburg Commercial Bank AG securities. Securities of Hamburg Commercial Bank AG may not be sold in the United States without registration pursuant to US securities legislation, unless such a sale takes place on the basis of relevant exceptional provisions.
This press information can contain forward-looking statements. These statements are based on our beliefs and assumptions, on information currently available to us which we consider reliable. Forward-looking statements include all statements which are not historical facts, including information concerning future growth prospects and future economic developments.
Such forward-looking statements are based on assumptions relating to future events and are subject to uncertainties, risks and other factors, a large number we cannot influence. Thus actual events can differ considerably from the forward-looking statements made. We make no warranty for the correctness or completeness of these statements or the actual occurrence of the statements made. Furthermore, we assume no obligation for updating the forward-looking statements after this information has been published.