The offer from Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller Maersk to acquire the Swedish tanker company Brostrom has been accepted by 60 percent of the shareholders of the Swedish company, and the new combined company is expected to become the largest tanker operator in the world.
Maersk is the world’s leading container carrier at sea, and its company Maersk Tankers recently offered 3.62 billion Swedish kronor (568 million dollars) to own the largest fleet of tankers for transporting oil and petrochemical products in the world.
The Danish shipping company offered 54 Swedish kronor per share, ten percent higher than the price at which it has recently been traded on the stock exchange, but stock market experts assessed this as too low a price for a profitable company like Brostrom. Maersk executives emphasize that this is a cash payment and that the majority of the Brostrom Board has accepted their fair offer.
By acquiring the Swedish tanker operator, Danish Maersk would expand its fleet to 270 ships, of which 130 are owned tankers, and the rest are on long-term charter. Maersk’s biggest competitor in the growing market for transporting oil and other chemicals is the Danish shipping company Torm, which has 115 tankers. (H)
