WFW advises lenders on financing of Hapag-Lloyd-UASC merger

Watson Farley & Williams (WFW) has advised a group of 27 international and local banks, acting as financiers under a variety of bilateral and syndicated, secured and unsecured, debt financing, Islamic financing and leasing facilities, in relation to the consents necessary in connection with their successful financing of the USD14bn merger between Hapag-Lloyd and United Arab Shipping Company (“UASC”).

Hamburg-headquartered Hapag-Lloyd AG previously had over 160 vessels with a total capacity of 955,000 TEU. UASC, currently headquartered in Dubai, was jointly established in 1976 by the governments of Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The merger of the two companies combines their significant resources, assets and experience to form one of the five largest container shipping lines in the world, with 237 vessels and a combined turnover of approximately USD12bn.

The WFW team advising on the transaction was led by Partner Andrew Baird and supported by Partners Neale Downes in Dubai, Maren Brandes in Hamburg, Kavita Shah in London and Mei Lin Goh and Mehraab Nazir in Singapore.