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Cosco takeover of OOCL cleared for completion

Cosco Shipping Holdings has received all the approvals required for its takeover of Orient Overseas International one day ahead the 30 June deadline for the $6.27bn.

In a statement issued on 29 June Cosco Shipping said all preconditions for the takeover offer of the Hong Kong-listed, family-owned container shipping company had been met.
Outstanding approval from the Chinese Anti-Monopoly Bureau of the State Administration for Market Regulation for the acquisition was received on Friday. “Accordingly, as at the date of this announcement, all the Pre-Conditions to the Offer have been fulfilled,” the companies said in a joint statement.
With the takeover of OOIL, Cosco will own the world eighth largest container line Orient Overseas Container Lines (OOCL). Based on figures from Alpahliner the enlarged Cosco Shipping container line would have a capacity of slightly over 2.7m teu overtaking CMA CGM as the world's third largest container line.
The acquisition is the last major consolidation deal pending in the container shipping sector, with the merger of container lines of NYK, Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) and K Line as Ocean Network Express (ONE) completed at the beginning of April.