Some industry insiders believe that HMM's acquisition intention indicates that the company is seeking transformation to expand its influence in the LNG transportation field.
According to South Korean local media reports, recently, South Korea's largest liner company HMM participated in the acquisition of Hyundai LNG Shipping Company (Hyundai LNG Shipping) competition.
Reported that HMM has to the private investment fund management company IMM Private Equity to participate in the Hyundai LNG Shipping bidding intention, and hope to participate in the preliminary tender.
It is reported that Hyundai LNG Shipping currently has 16 LNG carriers and 6 liquefied petroleum gas carriers. The main shareholders are a consortium formed by IMM Private Equity(PE) and IMM Investment Consortium. The consortium began selling Hyundai LNG Shipping in March.
It is worth noting that the Hyundai LNG Shipping was formerly HMM's LNG transportation business unit. In 2014, the IMM consortium acquired this unit.
For HMM's acquisition intention, some industry insiders believe that this move marks HMM is seeking transformation to expand its influence in the LNG transportation field.
Official information shows that as an integrated logistics shipping company, HMM's current business scope covers container transportation, bulk cargo transportation, tanker transportation, etc., of which the container transportation business is the core.
On May 15, HMM reported its 2023 first quarter results.
During the reporting period, HMM achieved revenue of approximately US $1.56 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 58%; net profit was approximately US $0.21 billion, a year-on-year drop of 91%. In response, HMM said that the easing of global supply chain pressure has normalized the container shipping market, affecting the company's revenue and profit.
Given current market conditions, HMM expects that the global economic downturn will continue and that in the short term consumer confidence will not recover.
HMM emphasized that the company will focus on cutting costs while improving operational efficiency to remain competitive in the market volatility and uncertainty.
In this regard, some analysts believe that due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, LNG transportation demand is expected to usher in significant growth, which further enhances the acquisition of HMM's attractiveness.
Source: China Shipping Weekly