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Hapag-Lloyd’ s revised bid for Zim may need to start again

Tel Aviv has framed the Zim acquisition as a national security issue. alisafarov / Shutterstock. com

By Greg Knowler

Hapag-Lloyd’ s $ 4.2 billion takeover bid for Zim Integrated Shipping Services apparently will need to restart the approval process from the beginning, according to Israeli media reports, raising doubts the acquisition will be finalized by the end of the year as planned.

The Government Companies Authority, an auxiliary unit of Israel’ s Ministry of Finance, said Sept. 29 it had stopped reviewing the original acquisition proposal from Hapag-Lloyd and Israeli private equity firm FIMI that was submitted in February, according to local news outlet Calcalist. The authority said any revised offer will need to be resubmitted by the acquiring parties and proceed once again through the bid process.

Securing approval for the deal has proven to be a difficult task, given Tel Aviv’ s framing of the Zim acquisition as a national security issue.

Hapag-Lloyd said the carrier would submit a revised offer to Israeli authorities by the end of September. But

with the Companies Authority ending its vetting process of the original deal and requiring any new proposal to be submitted anew, it appears Hapag-Lloyd and FIMI are back to the drawing board.

“ Hapag-Lloyd is clearly making an effort to salvage the agreement, with CEO Habben-Jansen and FIMI traveling

Germany prohibits Cosco-Zippel deal over‘ security concerns’

By Greg Knowler

The German government on Oct. 7 rejected China stateowned Cosco Shipping’ s bid for an 80 % stake in Hamburg-based logistics provider Konrad Zippel Spediteur( Zippel), citing security concerns.

The ruling, handed down by the German cabinet, highlights the growing unease in the European Union over Beijing’ s investment in the bloc’ s transport and logistics sector.

“ The reason for the prohibition is security concerns,” a spokesperson for Germany’ s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy said in a statement.“ The acquisition would have deepened dependencies and endangered the resilience of supply chains in Germany and the EU.”

The spokesperson did not provide further details, but security concerns were likely centered on Zippel’ s strategic logistics support to the German military. Zippel also handles 35 % of container volume moving by road and rail to the inland Berlin, Schkopau and Elsterwerda terminals.

“ We would have preferred a different outcome,” Zippel CEO Axel Plass said in a statement following the government’ s decision. Plass was set to retain a 20 % stake in Zippel and continue as head of the business.

It’ s not the first time the German government has intervened in a Cosco acquisition. Subsidiary Cosco Shipping Ports holds a minority 24.99 % stake in HHLA’ s Tollerort container terminal in Hamburg after a German government review in October 2022 reduced its stake from an initially proposed 35 %.

The decision to block the Zippel bid has exposed a divide between Germany’ s competition watchdogs and its intelligence apparatus.

Germany’ s antitrust authority cleared the deal in February, stating that national security considerations fell entirely outside its remit. But in April, the country’ s domestic intelligence agency raised concerns that sparked a review by the Economy Ministry, resulting in the deal being turned down.

The EU in recent years has become wary of Chinese

24 Journal of Commerce | November 2, 2026 www. joc. com