Dalgaard’s opposite number at P&O Nedlloyd, Bert Muys, says the carrier’s 30% stake in SAECS will have to be disposed of by February in terms of a settlement proposed to the European Competition Commission by the A.P.Møller-Maersk group. Interested parties are said to include French carrier CMA CGM, Deutsche Afrika-Linien (DAL), already part of SAECS, and latterly, Hamburg Sud. Muys says even though the P&O branding and systems are being retained until February, he and his staff complement of around 212 are effectively already working for Maersk. “It’s business as usual,” he said. The Maersk Group anticipates the RPONL acquisition will add about US$7.5 billion to annual revenue and result in ‘considerable non-recurring costs’ of some US$500 million. * Peninsular Oriental and Steam Navigation Co. (P&O), the original holding company of Royal P&O Nedlloyd, initially sold half of its 50% stake in RPONL stake to Royal Nedlloyd, and the remainder more recently to A.P.Moller-Maersk. For the APMM transaction alone, P&O received US$685 million in cash while continuing to sell assets, investing some US$117 million in its ports business now accounting for 62% of total assets as opposed to 38% a year ago, and repaying debt of US$936 million.
