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• 2 min de lectura
Israel's Ministry of Defense has spoken out against the merger agreement between shipping company ZIM Integrated Shipping Services (ZIM) and Hapag-Lloyd. The ministry's stance is reportedly based on the origins of the buyer's capital, including that of Compañía Sud Americana de Vapores (CSAV), belonging to the Chilean group Quiñenco, which owns 30% of the shares.
It is worth remembering that, in February of this year, Hapag-Lloyd announced that it had reached an agreement with the Israeli shipping company to acquire 100% of ZIM's shares, in a deal valued at over four billion dollars.
According to the Israeli media outlet Calcalist, the Director of Security at the Ministry of Defense, Almog Cohen, after reviewing the details of the document, reportedly raised alarms due to the participation of foreign state funds belonging to Qatar and Saudi Arabia in Hapag-Lloyd's ownership.
Regarding Chilean participation in the German shipping company, the media indicated that the head of the Security Department would not agree to "their maritime commercial activities being controlled by these governments, as well as the Government of Chile, which also appears among Hapag-Lloyd's largest shareholders and which in recent years has maintained a firm political stance against Israel."
This situation would jeopardize Israel's maritime security in the event of a new military contingency in which the country could be involved. In this regard, the official highlighted the role played by ZIM during the Gaza war, by helping to mitigate the effects of the various maritime blockades suffered by Israel.
For clarification, the State of Chile does not own shares in Hapag-Lloyd nor does it maintain any participation in the aforementioned shipping company. Therefore, the Israeli argument would have a geopolitical character, linked to the eventual pressure that a Chilean government in power could exert on the company's board of directors.
Yesterday, the shipping company itself published a statement corroborating that its sale process continues to take place.
