CP Ships confirms takeover talks

TERRY HUTSON CANADIAN SHIPPING company CP Ships, the parent company of Lykes Lines, has confirmed reports which surfaced at the end of last week that it is in discussion with several other companies that are interested in its purchase. Subsidiary company Lykes Lines has operated between North America and southern Africa for over 50 years. That the latest development has been sudden can be judged by CP Ships having only recently indicated its intention to rebrand all subsidiary companies, including Lykes Lines, as CP Ships. The reported front runner for the Canadian company is China Shipping Group, which is known to be keen on expansion, although the French line CMA CGM is also showing interest. And if you accept some reports, so is Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). Should the latter prove to be true it would mark a significant change in policy for MSC which so far has developed into the second largest container operator entirely through organic growth rather than acquisition. CMA CGM recently acquired another French line, Delmas, in a move that enabled it to move into fourth largest position in rankings among the container lines and which also gives it a dominating position among the Europe-West African trades. In last Friday’s statement CP Ships said there was no assurance that a transaction would result from the discussions but it had been requested by the Toronto Stock Exchange to confirm the discussions.