Maersk-P&O Nedlloyd deal complete

Updated 9:24 a.m. ET, Thu Aug 11, 2005

By Peter T. Leach

The JOURNAL of COMMERCE ONLINE

A.P. Moller-Maersk today said it completed its $2.8 billion acquisition of Royal P&O Nedlloyd.

The Danish company said its Maersk Sealand unit and P&O Nedlloyd will be branded under the new name of Maersk Line after February 2006 and that Maersk Logistics and P&O Nedlloyd Logistics will be integrated under the Maersk Logistics brand name.

The company said all conditions for the offer have been fulfilled and payment for the tendered shares will be made today.

P&O Nedlloyd Chief Executive Philip Green will step down and hand over control of the world's third-largest liner operator to Eric Sisco, an American lawyer who joined Maersk Sealand five years ago.

Green "will assist and work with A.P. Moller-Maersk for a period during the integration," the company said. It also said PONL's Chief Financial Officer, David Robbie, will also leave the company.

Sisco is currently the managing director of Maersk Espana S.A. and area manager of Maersk's Iberia and Morocco Area, which covers Spain , Portugal , and Morocco .

Maersk and P&O will give notice of withdrawal to specified consortia and conferences shortly.

This means the withdrawal of the line from the Grand Alliance will touch off a scramble for a new partners or partners among the other four members of that alliance, whose chief executives have announced their determination to keep it going. The other members are Hapag-Lloyd, Malaysia International Shipping Corp., NYK Line and OOCL.

Until February 2006 P&O Nedlloyd and Maersk Sealand will continue to operate as separate shipping lines.

The company said this is aimed at offering customers stability of network and services throughout the coming peak season, to keep services and network intact throughout this year, and to honor P&O Nedlloyd's commitments to various conferences and consortia.

The full integration of Maersk, the largest container line and its smaller rival will be completed in stages and is expected to be completed by the end of 2006, the company said.