Hong Kongers are generally reluctant to relinquish control to Beijing. But a cash offer at a 31 per cent premium to Friday’s closing price convinced the family of the territory’s former chief executive, Tung Chee-Hwa, to sell its 68 per cent stake in Orient Overseas (OOIL) to a pair of Chinese shippers led by state owned Cosco. Both parties hope others will like the $6.3bn valuation.
Overcapacity and a slowdown in global trade have hit shipping margins in recent years. Both Cosco and Danish market leader Maersk lost money in the past two years. Korea’s Hanjing filed for bankruptcy in August 2016.
Chinese banks helped rescue OOIL during the previous downturn and are pivotal in this one too. Cosco’s proposal is helped by a bridge loan from Bank of China. This highlights Beijing’s influence at a time when ship financing elsewhere in the world is reeling from writedowns and losses. State financing support is also useful because Cosco is already among the more highly indebted global carriers. If all OOIL shareholders accepted its bid, then Cosco’s existing net debt of $4bn could jump to a multiple of twice its equity.