In the past three years, Giann Luigi Aponti's shipping company has invested $40 billion in multiple sectors, including ships, ports, hospitals, and high-speed rail. Recently, he partnered with BlackRock to acquire 43 ports from Chinese Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing's business group.
Original Title: "Trump Sets Sights on the Panama Canal. Meet the Swiss Billionaire Who Jointly Acquired Two Key Ports of the Canal with BlackRock"
In his March 4 speech to a joint session of Congress, Donald Trump proudly announced a deal reached that day for two ports on the Panama Canal.
"Just today, a large American company announced that they will acquire two ports around the Panama Canal." Politicians gathered at the Capitol responded with a round of applause.
The transaction he referred to is the sale of 43 ports owned by CK Hutchison, headquartered in Hong Kong under Li Ka-shing, to a consortium led by the asset management company BlackRock for a price of $23 billion. The two ports in the Panama Canal are just a small part of this.
What Trump did not mention is that one of the partners in the deal, Terminal Investment Limited (TIL), is a subsidiary of the Swiss shipping giant MSC.
One
MSC was co-founded in 1970 by Swiss-Italian billionaire Gianluigi Aponte and his wife Rafaela Aponte.
Although the ownership structure of this sale has not been made public, this transaction will make MSC the world's largest port operator, with stakes in over 100 terminals in 54 countries and regions, including 8 in the United States and 3 in Panama.
MSC holds 70% of TIL, with Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), led by American billionaire Adebayo "Bayo" Ogunlesi, holding 20% (acquired by BlackRock for $12.5 billion last October), and the remaining 10% owned by Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC). Ogunlesi and the Apontes first collaborated in 2013, when GIP acquired 35% of TIL from MSC for $1.4 billion, and subsequently sold part of their stake in 2019 and 2021.
American billionaire Adebayor Ogunlesi is the co-founder of the private equity firm GIP, which first invested in the Alponte couple's TIL in 2013. Image source: VICTOR J. BLUE/BLOOMBERG
The transaction is pending approval from European and Panamanian regulatory authorities. If approved, BlackRock and TIL will acquire Cheung Kong and Hutchison's ports outside of mainland China and Hong Kong for $18 billion in cash plus assuming $5 billion in debt.
This is the latest case in a series of acquisition actions by the Aponte couple. At the beginning of 2022, their MSC surpassed Danish listed competitor Maersk to become the world's largest container shipping company. Now, MSC is also expected to surpass Maersk in terms of port network scale.
Two
"The growth of (MSC) container shipping capacity is closely related to the significant expansion of port throughput capacity," said Eirik Hooper, senior analyst of ports and terminals at shipping consultancy Drewry. "These two businesses clearly support each other and provide opportunities for achieving large-scale operational synergies."
Just over a year after announcing the acquisition of GIP, BlackRock has invested in ports. The company stated that infrastructure is a trillion-dollar market, and this market will continue to grow due to increasing investments in assets such as airports, railways, and shipping ports.
Larry Fink, the billionaire CEO of BlackRock, stated in a statement at the time that infrastructure is "one of the most exciting long-term investment opportunities."
After the transaction with Changjiang Holdings is completed, MSC will hold shares in three ports on the Panama Canal, two on the Pacific side and one on the Atlantic side (not excluding the possibility that local regulatory authorities may require MSC to divest the ports it currently owns). Image source: MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
According to Forbes, MSC has spent over $40 billion since January 2022 on various fields, including new ports, hospitals, and even an Italian high-speed rail company, before reaching a deal with Cheung Kong Holdings. Most of the funds were spent on new ships: according to ship valuation company VesselsValue, the company has purchased or ordered 370 vessels over the past three years, costing more than $31 billion.
MSC, with its highly concentrated equity, is low-key and mysterious. It does not disclose financial data and refuses to comment on this matter. However, documents obtained by the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero indicate that MSC had $68 billion in cash at the end of 2022. The supply chain disruptions during the pandemic led to soaring freight rates, resulting in record profits for shipping companies.
Three
The ownership of MSC is evenly distributed between Chairman Apont and his wife Raffaella Apont-Diamante. Apont was born in Italy but is now a Swiss citizen residing in Geneva. In 1970, Apont quit his job at the bank and, with his wife's assistance, founded MSC, using a $200,000 loan to purchase their first ship.
Forbes estimates their respective fortunes at $37.5 billion, enough to make Aponté-Diamant the richest self-made woman in the world. The combined net worth of the two is $58 billion more than their estimated net worth at the beginning of 2022. A spokesperson for MSC declined to comment on this and did not arrange for either of the Aponté couple to be interviewed.
"Before it became clear that the pandemic was favorable for shipping companies, Apont had already begun the acquisition of all available assets and expansion," said shipping expert John McCown from the Center for Maritime Strategy. "This is a bold strategy, but it seems to be effective at present."
Although the prosperity brought by the pandemic has helped all shipping companies, MSC has benefited more than its competitors.
According to the Messenger News, the company achieved $93 billion in revenue and $46 billion in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) in 2022, surpassing Maersk and the French billionaire Saadé family's CMA CGM. Moreover, even though MSC's cruise business was hit hard — with a net profit of $456 million in 2019, but the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in a cumulative net loss of over $3 billion over three years — the success of its container shipping business more than compensated for this loss: from 2020 to 2022, MSC's EBITDA grew by over 600%, while Maersk's growth was 350% and CMA CGM's was 445%.
Four
MSC utilizes the cash earned during the pandemic to expand its business territory beyond the oceans.
It targets companies that transport goods to their final destination on land, while also acquiring other shipping companies beyond container freight. Since January 2022, MSC has spent over $3.6 billion acquiring stakes in 10 companies, including a trucking company, a freight airline, a car carrier, two logistics companies, a tugboat operator, and a freight forwarding company. Freight forwarding companies act as intermediaries between product transportation companies and the final destination of the products, organizing the transport of goods via sea, rail, road, or air.
"These freight forwarding companies are just a way to support this massive business system, which can bring additional freight volume," McCown said. "The growth and expansion momentum of MSC is so strong that this approach is not surprising."
In August 2022, the well-funded MSC even partnered with South African billionaire Johann Rupert's Remgro to acquire the South Africa-based private hospital chain Mediclinic for $4.6 billion. MSC's next major move outside of its shipping business occurred in October 2023, when it acquired 50% of the Italian high-speed rail company Italo from GIP for $2.2 billion.
MSC has been operating cruise business since 1988 and acquired a Mediterranean ferry company in 2010, but this is its first foray into the passenger rail sector.
Diego Aponte, the president of MSC, son of Gianluigi and Raffaella, stated in a statement at that time that this acquisition reflects the group’s "goal to further develop sustainable transport models for passenger and cargo services." The transaction is set to be completed in May 2024 and is likely to become another successful investment for Aponte: New passenger transport achieved $926 million in revenue and $178 million in profit in 2023, representing increases of 21% and 36% respectively compared to the previous year.
Five
Before reaching an acquisition deal with Yangtze River Investment, the Apont couple had been expanding their port empire.
In March 2022, MSC acquired 50% of the shares of Busan Port in South Korea. Eight months later, it acquired Bolloré Africa Logistics from French billionaire Vincent Bolloré's Bolloré Group for $5.9 billion. The company has businesses including container terminals, inland ports, railways, and logistics services. This acquisition made MSC the largest logistics company in Africa and the seventh-largest port owner in the world. Last November, it acquired 49.9% of the shares of the German listed logistics company Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) for $700 million, which has major ports in Hamburg, Estonia, Italy, and Odessa, Ukraine.
According to data from shipping data company Alphaliner, MSC possesses the world's largest container fleet, accounting for 20% of the total global fleet capacity, ahead of its closest competitors Maersk (14%) and CMA CGM (12%). Image source: MOHSSEN ASSANIMOGHADDAM/PICTURE ALLIANCE/GETTY IMAGES
"Having your own port is beneficial as it gives you priority," said Ben Slupecki, an analyst at Morningstar, pointing out that acquiring more ports while expanding the fleet is a wise move. "These are valuable assets in the industry."
All of this has given MSC an unprecedented strong advantage, and possibly driven by this factor, it announced in January 2023 its plan to terminate its 10-year cooperation with Maersk. The cooperation between the two is known as the 2M Alliance, in which the two companies shared the capacity of 185 vessels on routes from Nordic and North American ports to Asia to reduce costs. The alliance was established in 2015 and officially expired this January.
Six
Maersk has joined another alliance, while MSC has chosen to go it alone. "They have 20% of global capacity, and such a scale no longer requires operating an alliance," Slupetski added.
Furthermore, with partners like Ogunleye and BlackRock led by Fink, MSC may no longer need additional support. In addition, Apont's expansion is not stopping: reports indicate that his company plans to increase its stake in the Boluda tugboat company of Spanish billionaire Vicente Boluda Fos to 49% before May, which will make MSC the largest tugboat company in the world.
MSC may not be able to maintain such a high level of spending indefinitely. After years of rapid growth, the tide that shipping companies have been riding is changing.
Freight prices have fallen from their peak in 2022 and are currently about 50% higher than pre-pandemic levels in 2019. This slowdown, combined with the potential impact of Trump tariffs and any ensuing trade wars, could suppress MSC's profit levels.
"If tariffs are confirmed to be implemented, the volume of container shipments to and from the United States will be significantly affected. This portion of freight accounts for 25% to 30% of the world's container shipping mileage," McCown added.
However, the proportion of container transportation to and from the United States in global container trade is relatively small. Although MSC may have to sell part of its ports in the Netherlands and Panama to appease regulators reviewing the Yangtze River and Hutchison transaction, it still holds over 100 ports, more than any other company. With such a scale and owning the world's largest container fleet, MSC is more resilient to risks than its competitors, regardless of the decline it faces.
"Industry giants like MSC, with investment capabilities, may withstand considerable storms and continue to develop afterward," Slupetski said. "Some of their competitors may not be so lucky. To some extent, this constitutes an advantage for MSC; even in the face of adversity, they can further acquire market share."
The content is for reference only, not a solicitation or offer. No investment, tax, or legal advice provided. See Disclaimer for more risks disclosure.
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GorillaZh
· 03-23 13:30
WHY ALL BILLIONAIRES ARE RUNNING AFTER SHIPPING BUSINESS?? #DL
Take away the Panama Canal, the man behind BlackRock.
In the past three years, Giann Luigi Aponti's shipping company has invested $40 billion in multiple sectors, including ships, ports, hospitals, and high-speed rail. Recently, he partnered with BlackRock to acquire 43 ports from Chinese Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing's business group.
Original Title: "Trump Sets Sights on the Panama Canal. Meet the Swiss Billionaire Who Jointly Acquired Two Key Ports of the Canal with BlackRock"
In his March 4 speech to a joint session of Congress, Donald Trump proudly announced a deal reached that day for two ports on the Panama Canal.
"Just today, a large American company announced that they will acquire two ports around the Panama Canal." Politicians gathered at the Capitol responded with a round of applause.
The transaction he referred to is the sale of 43 ports owned by CK Hutchison, headquartered in Hong Kong under Li Ka-shing, to a consortium led by the asset management company BlackRock for a price of $23 billion. The two ports in the Panama Canal are just a small part of this.
What Trump did not mention is that one of the partners in the deal, Terminal Investment Limited (TIL), is a subsidiary of the Swiss shipping giant MSC.
One
MSC was co-founded in 1970 by Swiss-Italian billionaire Gianluigi Aponte and his wife Rafaela Aponte.
Although the ownership structure of this sale has not been made public, this transaction will make MSC the world's largest port operator, with stakes in over 100 terminals in 54 countries and regions, including 8 in the United States and 3 in Panama.
MSC holds 70% of TIL, with Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), led by American billionaire Adebayo "Bayo" Ogunlesi, holding 20% (acquired by BlackRock for $12.5 billion last October), and the remaining 10% owned by Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC). Ogunlesi and the Apontes first collaborated in 2013, when GIP acquired 35% of TIL from MSC for $1.4 billion, and subsequently sold part of their stake in 2019 and 2021.
American billionaire Adebayor Ogunlesi is the co-founder of the private equity firm GIP, which first invested in the Alponte couple's TIL in 2013. Image source: VICTOR J. BLUE/BLOOMBERG
The transaction is pending approval from European and Panamanian regulatory authorities. If approved, BlackRock and TIL will acquire Cheung Kong and Hutchison's ports outside of mainland China and Hong Kong for $18 billion in cash plus assuming $5 billion in debt.
This is the latest case in a series of acquisition actions by the Aponte couple. At the beginning of 2022, their MSC surpassed Danish listed competitor Maersk to become the world's largest container shipping company. Now, MSC is also expected to surpass Maersk in terms of port network scale.
Two
"The growth of (MSC) container shipping capacity is closely related to the significant expansion of port throughput capacity," said Eirik Hooper, senior analyst of ports and terminals at shipping consultancy Drewry. "These two businesses clearly support each other and provide opportunities for achieving large-scale operational synergies."
Just over a year after announcing the acquisition of GIP, BlackRock has invested in ports. The company stated that infrastructure is a trillion-dollar market, and this market will continue to grow due to increasing investments in assets such as airports, railways, and shipping ports.
Larry Fink, the billionaire CEO of BlackRock, stated in a statement at the time that infrastructure is "one of the most exciting long-term investment opportunities."
After the transaction with Changjiang Holdings is completed, MSC will hold shares in three ports on the Panama Canal, two on the Pacific side and one on the Atlantic side (not excluding the possibility that local regulatory authorities may require MSC to divest the ports it currently owns). Image source: MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
According to Forbes, MSC has spent over $40 billion since January 2022 on various fields, including new ports, hospitals, and even an Italian high-speed rail company, before reaching a deal with Cheung Kong Holdings. Most of the funds were spent on new ships: according to ship valuation company VesselsValue, the company has purchased or ordered 370 vessels over the past three years, costing more than $31 billion.
MSC, with its highly concentrated equity, is low-key and mysterious. It does not disclose financial data and refuses to comment on this matter. However, documents obtained by the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero indicate that MSC had $68 billion in cash at the end of 2022. The supply chain disruptions during the pandemic led to soaring freight rates, resulting in record profits for shipping companies.
Three
The ownership of MSC is evenly distributed between Chairman Apont and his wife Raffaella Apont-Diamante. Apont was born in Italy but is now a Swiss citizen residing in Geneva. In 1970, Apont quit his job at the bank and, with his wife's assistance, founded MSC, using a $200,000 loan to purchase their first ship.
Forbes estimates their respective fortunes at $37.5 billion, enough to make Aponté-Diamant the richest self-made woman in the world. The combined net worth of the two is $58 billion more than their estimated net worth at the beginning of 2022. A spokesperson for MSC declined to comment on this and did not arrange for either of the Aponté couple to be interviewed.
"Before it became clear that the pandemic was favorable for shipping companies, Apont had already begun the acquisition of all available assets and expansion," said shipping expert John McCown from the Center for Maritime Strategy. "This is a bold strategy, but it seems to be effective at present."
Although the prosperity brought by the pandemic has helped all shipping companies, MSC has benefited more than its competitors.
According to the Messenger News, the company achieved $93 billion in revenue and $46 billion in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) in 2022, surpassing Maersk and the French billionaire Saadé family's CMA CGM. Moreover, even though MSC's cruise business was hit hard — with a net profit of $456 million in 2019, but the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in a cumulative net loss of over $3 billion over three years — the success of its container shipping business more than compensated for this loss: from 2020 to 2022, MSC's EBITDA grew by over 600%, while Maersk's growth was 350% and CMA CGM's was 445%.
Four
MSC utilizes the cash earned during the pandemic to expand its business territory beyond the oceans.
It targets companies that transport goods to their final destination on land, while also acquiring other shipping companies beyond container freight. Since January 2022, MSC has spent over $3.6 billion acquiring stakes in 10 companies, including a trucking company, a freight airline, a car carrier, two logistics companies, a tugboat operator, and a freight forwarding company. Freight forwarding companies act as intermediaries between product transportation companies and the final destination of the products, organizing the transport of goods via sea, rail, road, or air.
"These freight forwarding companies are just a way to support this massive business system, which can bring additional freight volume," McCown said. "The growth and expansion momentum of MSC is so strong that this approach is not surprising."
In August 2022, the well-funded MSC even partnered with South African billionaire Johann Rupert's Remgro to acquire the South Africa-based private hospital chain Mediclinic for $4.6 billion. MSC's next major move outside of its shipping business occurred in October 2023, when it acquired 50% of the Italian high-speed rail company Italo from GIP for $2.2 billion.
MSC has been operating cruise business since 1988 and acquired a Mediterranean ferry company in 2010, but this is its first foray into the passenger rail sector.
Diego Aponte, the president of MSC, son of Gianluigi and Raffaella, stated in a statement at that time that this acquisition reflects the group’s "goal to further develop sustainable transport models for passenger and cargo services." The transaction is set to be completed in May 2024 and is likely to become another successful investment for Aponte: New passenger transport achieved $926 million in revenue and $178 million in profit in 2023, representing increases of 21% and 36% respectively compared to the previous year.
Five
Before reaching an acquisition deal with Yangtze River Investment, the Apont couple had been expanding their port empire.
In March 2022, MSC acquired 50% of the shares of Busan Port in South Korea. Eight months later, it acquired Bolloré Africa Logistics from French billionaire Vincent Bolloré's Bolloré Group for $5.9 billion. The company has businesses including container terminals, inland ports, railways, and logistics services. This acquisition made MSC the largest logistics company in Africa and the seventh-largest port owner in the world. Last November, it acquired 49.9% of the shares of the German listed logistics company Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) for $700 million, which has major ports in Hamburg, Estonia, Italy, and Odessa, Ukraine.
According to data from shipping data company Alphaliner, MSC possesses the world's largest container fleet, accounting for 20% of the total global fleet capacity, ahead of its closest competitors Maersk (14%) and CMA CGM (12%). Image source: MOHSSEN ASSANIMOGHADDAM/PICTURE ALLIANCE/GETTY IMAGES
"Having your own port is beneficial as it gives you priority," said Ben Slupecki, an analyst at Morningstar, pointing out that acquiring more ports while expanding the fleet is a wise move. "These are valuable assets in the industry."
All of this has given MSC an unprecedented strong advantage, and possibly driven by this factor, it announced in January 2023 its plan to terminate its 10-year cooperation with Maersk. The cooperation between the two is known as the 2M Alliance, in which the two companies shared the capacity of 185 vessels on routes from Nordic and North American ports to Asia to reduce costs. The alliance was established in 2015 and officially expired this January.
Six
Maersk has joined another alliance, while MSC has chosen to go it alone. "They have 20% of global capacity, and such a scale no longer requires operating an alliance," Slupetski added.
Furthermore, with partners like Ogunleye and BlackRock led by Fink, MSC may no longer need additional support. In addition, Apont's expansion is not stopping: reports indicate that his company plans to increase its stake in the Boluda tugboat company of Spanish billionaire Vicente Boluda Fos to 49% before May, which will make MSC the largest tugboat company in the world.
MSC may not be able to maintain such a high level of spending indefinitely. After years of rapid growth, the tide that shipping companies have been riding is changing.
Freight prices have fallen from their peak in 2022 and are currently about 50% higher than pre-pandemic levels in 2019. This slowdown, combined with the potential impact of Trump tariffs and any ensuing trade wars, could suppress MSC's profit levels.
"If tariffs are confirmed to be implemented, the volume of container shipments to and from the United States will be significantly affected. This portion of freight accounts for 25% to 30% of the world's container shipping mileage," McCown added.
However, the proportion of container transportation to and from the United States in global container trade is relatively small. Although MSC may have to sell part of its ports in the Netherlands and Panama to appease regulators reviewing the Yangtze River and Hutchison transaction, it still holds over 100 ports, more than any other company. With such a scale and owning the world's largest container fleet, MSC is more resilient to risks than its competitors, regardless of the decline it faces.
"Industry giants like MSC, with investment capabilities, may withstand considerable storms and continue to develop afterward," Slupetski said. "Some of their competitors may not be so lucky. To some extent, this constitutes an advantage for MSC; even in the face of adversity, they can further acquire market share."
This article is translated from:
Text: Giacomo Tognini
Translation: Lemin