CMA CGM BUYS 10% STAKE IN ACL

CMA CGM BUYS 10% STAKE IN ACL    CMA CGM, the expansionist French carrier, has bought 10 percent of the share capital of Atlantic Container Line.
   A spokesman for CMA CGM said that the shares were bought through Mars Shipping, a subsidiary of the group.
   The purchase is aimed at expanding the scale of CMA CGM group’s activities in North America.
   CMA CGM will disclose its strategy related to the purchase of the shareholding in ACL after meeting the management of the company, the spokesman added.
   CMA CGM announced recently that it will enter the transatlantic trade next month, under a slot-charter agreement with Maersk Sealand and New World Alliance carriers APL, Hyundai Merchant Marine and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines.
   Compagnie Generale Maritime, now part of CMA CGM, was one of the original shareholders of ACL.
   Grimaldi, the major Italian car-carrying and roll-on/roll-off operator, recently acquired 39.5 percent of ACL's stock. It acquired 33.9 percent of the shares from the Holt shipping and stevedoring group and from financial institutions that owned ACL stock. Grimaldi, the sixth-largest ro/ro shipping group in the world, also acquired 5.6 percent of the shares from other financial institutions.