CMA CGM Gets EU Approval for Containerships Takeover

French shipping major CMA CGM has received a green light from the European Commission to acquire Finland’s Containerships.

The European Commission concluded that the proposed merger, which was agreed on June 20, 2018, would not raise competition concerns due to its limited impact on the sector.

With this move, the combination agreement between Container Finance and CMA CGM has been accepted unconditionally by all relevant competition authorities as of October 22, 2018.

Estimated to take place on October 31, 2018, the combination would see Container Finance’s entire container logistics operations including Containerships, Multi-link Terminals and CD Holding integrate to CMA CGM’s intra-regional market offering in Europe and Mediterranean area.

CMA CGM, which is already present on the intra-regional market through its subsidiaries, earlier said that the acquisition of Containerships would “strengthen even more the development strategy implemented by Rodolphe Saadé, CMA CGM Group’s Chairman and CEO, aimed at densifying the group’s regional network.”