Billionaire shipowner Gianluigi Aponte’s bid to take over one of the world’s largest car carrier owners is the most dramatic move in the segment by a liner operator to date.
The swoop by MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company to acquire Gram Car Carriers follows a growing trend for container lines shifting into the car carrier sector.
Unusually for Aponte, he seems to have arrived late to the party.
While Aponte has an astonishing knack for getting the timing right in container shipping, that is not the case in the car carrier segment.
With car carrier charter rates and asset value remaining steady at all-time highs, the world’s largest liner operator is likely to be paying top dollar for his prize.
A company whose share price stood at €6 ($6.40) in early 2022 has surged to over €18 for most of the year and currently stands at €22.70.
And for once, Aponte has been pipped to the post by his liner rivals.
AP Moller-Maersk cashed out of its car carrier investments in Hoegh Autoliners last year, in which it had been the second largest shareholder.
This situation might create an opportunity for other competitors of Aponte to enter the sector, with Italy’s Grimaldi Group being suggested by some as a potential acquirer of Hoegh Autoliners.
Keeping pace
It may also be that Aponte wanted to keep pace with other French liner giant CMA CGM, which joined the car carrier segment last year.
The French carrier is securing what shipbroker BRS describes as “precious tonnage” through charter commitments from tonnage providers.
Liner operator Zim has also been quietly building up its car carrier fleet in recent years, including vessels chartered from Gram Car Carriers.
Aponte, on the other hand, has lagged way behind with just two car carriers in its fleet.
He has watched as tonnage providers like Seaspan Corp — the world’s largest container ship owner with nearly 200 vessels — last year ordered the world’s largest car carriers.
Seaspan entered the segment in partnership with South Korean operator Hyundai Glovis, which is chartering around a dozen 10,800-ceu ships from Seaspan and HMM.
Waiting in the wings
Lagging behind rivals was never going to be too big a problem for Aponte, who has been made one of the world’s richest men by the greatest container boom in shipping history.
He has been waiting in the wings, ready to pounce when the opportunity arose.
If successful, his $700m raid will give the company control of the world’s third-largest tonnage provider within the pure car/truck carriers segment, with 18 owned vessels, across the distribution, midsize and panamax segments.
That is likely to be seen as a natural fit.
Aponte will know the key German shareholders of Gram Car Carriers, including the Schues and Bunnemann families, through their significant container shipping interests.
Yet for once, Aponte got the timing wrong and should have moved earlier. Instead, the offer price is a 28% premium to the market capitalisation.
That is a high price to pay, but for MSC it is probably better late than never.
