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CP Ships to Acquire Italia Di Navigazione
| 30.05.02 London, UK (30 May 2002) - CP Ships Limited has reached agreement with d'Amico Società di Navigazione S.p.A. to acquire all issued and outstanding shares of Italian container shipping company Italia di Navigazione for US$ 40 million in cash. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval and certain other closing conditions, is expected to close in the third quarter. Italia operates its principal container services between the Mediterranean, West Coast North America and Central and South America. It carried about 180,000 teus in 2001. Formerly owned by the Italian government, Italia was privatized when acquired by d'Amico in 1998. Italia will remain headquartered in Genoa, Italy, where CP Ships already has a substantial presence. "The purchase of Italia is the continuation of a key element of CP Ships' overall strategy of making acquisitions to strengthen our regional position, create new opportunities for growth and build trade lane economies of scale, " said CP Ships' CEO Ray Miles. "It has been a decision that we have made to guarantee the future of the company," said Cesare d'Amico. "Italia has been strengthened and is now ready for the consolidation process in the container trades. It will become part of a group well established in the American market and will be able to achieve greater economies of scale. The brand will be maintained, as well as the obligations towards the personnel." He added "d'Amico can now concentrate on its growing bulk and product carrier shipping activities in which it is investing heavily. It will also focus on expanding its Intra-Mediterranean feeder services and on entry into the short-sea trades." The acquisition includes:
Including the former d'Amico container services already merged with Italia:
"The strong Italia brand will complement CP Ships' existing brand strategy. Italy has grown to be one of CP Ships' main European markets and we will be able to strengthen our presence in this key region by using Italia as a platform for further growth," commented Frank Halliwell, CP Ships' COO. "We look forward to benefiting from Italia's experience and expanding the service options we offer our Mediterranean customers." CP Ships and Italia already cooperate in four services and will continue to work together in the Intra-Mediterranean feeder trades. Italia Fleet List
1 Nominal Capacity represents the total number of slots theoretically available both above and below decks and is therefore different from operational capacity which takes account of various factors including average cargo weight, destination of cargo, weather conditions, draft limitations, ship stability, and other factors which generally reduce the ship capacity often significantly. 2 A short-term charter (STC) is a time charter of one year or less and a medium-term charter (MTC) is a time charter of more than one year but less than three years. 3 Geared (G) ships have on-board cranes, while ungeared (U) do not. -ends- |
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