NOL’s liner arm APL has 540,000 teu of slot capacity, this compares to the previous largest deal, which was when Maersk Line bought P&O Nedlloyd in 2005 that had slot capacity of 460,000 teu at the time. Adding APL to its own fleet would give CMA CGM a fleet of 2.33m teu, an 11.5% market share, Alphaliner said in its weekly newsletter.
While CMA CGM and NOL have signed an exclusivity agreement with a view to striking a deal by 7 December Alphaliner still sees reaching agreement on a valuation for the Singapore-based line as potentially difficult.
It also questioned CMA CGM’s ability to fund such an acquisition. “NOL has a current market capitalisation of $2.146bn as well as net debt of $2.624bn, for a total enterprise value of $4.770bn, before any acquisition price premium,” it noted.
“A full cash acquisition of NOL would more than double CMA CGM’s existing net debt position of $3.26bn.”
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