Rickmers Holding AG and E.R. Capital Holding GmbH & Cie. KG are reviewing a potential merger of their ship-management units – Rickmers Maritime Services and E.R. Schiffahrt – into a global joint venture. Both companies have signed a declaration of intent.
The new company will manage around 220 vessels. The aim is to pool strengths in a highly competitive market to further promote expansion of the ship-management business and increase the new company’s capabilities.
The review process will take several weeks. As soon as a decision has been reached, the groups will provide further information.
The potential merger of the two shipmanagement units will not have any impact on the terms of the corporate bond issued by Rickmers Holding AG and listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
Furthermore, the current assessment is that a merger will not require modifications to be made to the forecast for financial year 2016, which was recently published by the Rickmers Group on 30 March 2016.
E.R. Capital Holding GmbH & Cie. KG and Rickmers Holding AG will continue to communicate transparently during the next stage of the review process.
