May 29th, 2020 
Grant Rowles Containers, Europe 0 comments
Klaus-Michael Kühne has signalled his intention to have a greater influence at Hapag-Lloyd by seeking an extra seat at the supervisory board ahead of next week’s annual general meeting.
Last month, Kühne Holdings upped its stake in the German line to 30% making him the biggest shareholder alongside Chilean shipping company CSAV, who also own a 30% stake. The state funds of Qatar and Saudi Arabia together hold 22.5%, making them the next biggest shareholder.
Currently, Kühne has just one seat on the Hapag-Lloyd board, filled by Kühne Holdings chairman Karl Gernandt, while CSAV and the Middle Eastern state funds each have two seats on the board.
According to local reports, Kühne appears to have missed the deadline for his proposal to increase his board presence and it is unlikely to be voted on at next week’s AGM.
With Hapag-Lloyd’s share price in free fall right now, it might not be long before Kühne strengthens his stake further. Over the last two weeks, the line’s shares have halved in value from 186 Euros to under 90 Euros per share.
Kühne is the controlling stakeholder in freight forwarder Kuehne + Nagel.
