ZIM's shareholders approved a $4.2 billion sale of the company in April, 97 percent in favour. Five months on, the deal turns on a single share that pays no dividend and cannot be bought.
Israel's decision was expected on Wednesday. Instead the Government Companies Authority gave Hapag-Lloyd and FIMI — its Israeli private equity partner — thirty days to restructure the transaction. Calcalist reports that six of the eight government bodies due to opine on it have opposed, including the ministries of economy, agriculture and transport.
The share is Israel's, and it is called a golden share. It gives the state a veto over changes of control at ZIM and rights over the fleet in an emergency; ZIM is contracted to provide logistical support to the military in times of conflict. The February deal was built around it. Hapag-Lloyd buys the global business for $35 a share, and FIMI takes a carved-out Israeli carrier of 16 vessels that assumes the golden share obligations and keeps the ZIM name.
What is being renegotiated is not the price. That is still $35 a share. According to Calcalist and Globes, the revisions on the table include cutting the share of the new Israeli carrier that could pass to foreign owners without triggering the golden share from 24 percent to 10; listing it only in Tel Aviv; delivering it debt-free with 16 ships against the 11 the golden share requires, all of them at the government's disposal; and securing its access to routes from Asia.
The objections are not procedural. When the deal was announced in February, a member of the Knesset told a committee hearing that the structure risked creating a weakened company unable to carry the national responsibility of an Israeli shipping line, and officials have questioned whether a 16-ship carrier has the financial strength for it. Politicians have also noted that Hapag-Lloyd's own register includes Qatari and Saudi sovereign wealth funds holding about 22.5 percent between them.
The economic shareholders, meanwhile, are finished. ZIM has paid out $5.7 billion in dividends since its 2021 listing, and the company says completion would take total capital returned to about $10 billion. When a rival bid appeared after the vote at $37.50 a share, $300 million more than Hapag-Lloyd, ZIM's board said the agreement was binding and the window for a superior offer had closed with the vote.
Every price in this deal was agreed in February and ratified in April. What is still being argued over is hulls, a listing venue, and the percentage of a small Israeli carrier that a foreigner may hold. The shareholders voted with billions. The one that is still voting owns nothing.
The one that is still voting owns nothing.
