Cosco Shipping Offers $6.3 Billion to Buy Orient Overseas
- Chinese shipping line, unit make offer at HK$78.67 per share
- Controlling shareholders Tung family have agreed to sell
Cosco Offers to Buy Orient Overseas for $6.3 Billion
Cosco Shipping Holdings Co. offered $6.3 billion to acquire the container carrier controlled by former Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa’s family in a deal that would catapult the mainland Chinese group into the world’s third-largest shipping line.
State-owned Cosco will pay shareholders of Orient Overseas International Ltd., Hong Kong’s No. 1 box mover, HK$78.67 a share in cash, a 31 percent premium over the stock’s last closing price. The Tung family, which founded Orient Overseas Container Line in 1969, has accepted the offer, which still needs regulatory approvals and consent from Cosco’s investors. Orient Overseas surged as much as 25 percent in Hong Kong, the biggest intraday gain in eight years, while Cosco jumped as much as 8.1 percent.