Investment funds eye CMA CGM

TWO investment funds are understood to be considering responding to the invitation, launched by CMA CGM chairman Jacques Saadé last week, to invest in the struggling container line operator, writes Andrew Spurrier in Paris.

US private equity fund Apollo Management and Paris-based Butler Capital Partners have both asked for information about the financial situation of the beleaguered shipping group, according to the Bloomberg news agency. Bloomberg said that the information had come from sources close to the current confidential talks between CMA CGM and its banks over the restructuring of the shipping group’s $5.6bn debt.

The two funds may have been in the mind of Mr Saadé when he told French business magazine Expansion last week that the group was looking for funds ready to invest $300m-$400m over a period of five to seven years.

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