Hapag-Lloyd AG (DB:HLAG) agreed to acquire United Arab Shipping Company (S.A.G.) from Public Investment Fund, Kuwait Investment Authority, Qatar Investment Authority, Investment Corporation of Dubai, Iraqi Fund for External Development, Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company B.S.C. and other shareholders on June 28, 2016. Hapag-Lloyd AG (DB:HLAG) signed an agreement to acquire United Arab Shipping Company (S.A.G.) from Public Investment Fund, Kuwait Investment Authority, Qatar Investment Authority, Investment Corporation of Dubai and other shareholders on July 15, 2016. On completion, Hapag-Lloyd will own 72% of the combined entity and United Arab Shipping will own the remaining stake. Upon completion, Compania SudAmericana de Vapores, the city of Hamburg and German Kuehne Maritime will all remain controlling shareholders of Hapag-Lloyd, while Qatar Holding LLC and The Public Investment Fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will get stakes of 14.4% and 10.1% in the Hapag-Lloyd. The part of the entire deal will lead to capital increase of €400 million. The deal is subject to the approval of the shareholders of Hapag-Lloyd and United Arab Shipping and regulatory approvals. The Board of Hapag-Lloyd AG approved the transaction. The shareholders of United Arab Shipping approved the transaction on June 29, 2016. As on July 18, 2016, the shareholders of Hapag-Lloyd AG approved the transaction. As on July 29, 2016, FTC approved the transaction. Hapag-Lloyd and United Arab Shipping Company (UASC) submitted concessions aimed at securing EU antitrust approval for the deal on October 28, 2016. As of November 23, 2016, the European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of United Arab Shipping Company (S.A.G.) by Hapag-Lloyd AG (DB:HLAG), subject to conditions. The clearance is conditional on the withdrawal of United Arab Shipping Company (S.A.G.) from a consortium on the trade routes between Northern Europe and North America, where the merged entity would have faced insufficient competitive constraint. As of March 17, 2017, all merger clearances and authority approvals as well as all necessary banking approvals from HapagLloyd AG’s side and substantially all banking approvals from UASC’s side have been obtained and the merger parties are arranging the final documentation for a closing of the business combination. The merger is expected to be completed by the end of 2016. As of March 17, 2017, Hapag-Lloyd and UASC mutually agreed to shift the long-stop date until May 31, 2017. The first time consolidation of UASC into Hapag-Lloyd will take place as of closing. Lazard Ltd. acted as financial advisor for United Arab Shipping Company. Wolfgang Sturm, Sebastian Goslar, Thorsten Henze and Karin Hribar of Linklaters acted as legal advisor for Compañía Sud Americana de Vapores S.A. in connection with the completion of business combination agreement between Hapag Lloyd and United Arab Shipping Company. Roger Kiem, Michiel Visser, Christopher Frampton, Christopher Frampton, Axel Schulz, Alison Weal, Markus Stephanblome, Justin Benson, Adrian Beasley, Ji Hong, Simon Collins, Farhad Jalinous, Nneka Wood, Claire Matheson Kirton, Faris Al Amoudi, David Wright, James M. Turner, Zahra Knapper, Florian Ziegler, Jan Ole Eichstädt, Simon Rommelfanger, Sarah Katharina Götze, Sonia Abdul-Rahman, Sam Harding, Andrew Harper, Charbel Abou Charaf, Daniel Moon, Elijah Gjeltema, Joseph Kalis, Jeffrey Dressler, Keith Schomig, Richard Papenbrock, Yasmin Weber, Mohamed Hasan and Mohamed Hasan of White & Case acted as legal advisors United Arab Shipping Company and Qatar Investment Authority. Marius Berenbrok, Olaf Ehlers, Sabrina Kulenkamp, Jörg-Peter Kraack, Moritz von Hesberg, Christian Kutschmann, Jochen Dieselhorst, Anne-Kathrin Hoppe, Jacob Fontaine, Eva-Maria Lohse, Ben Juratovich, Andreas von Bonin, Anneleen Straetemans, Thorben Klopp, Angela Husfeldt of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer acted as legal advisors for Hapag-Lloyd AG. Frederik Mühl and Jochen Buckel of Clifford Chance Law Firm acted as legal advisor for Public Investment Fund. Thomas Neubaum, Bianca Engelmann, Elke Funken-Hötzel, Alexander Schilling, David J. Schmidt, Christian Saunders and Kate Chapman of Allen & Overy and Sami Chowdhury, Georg Lehmann, Jan Hungar and Aymeric de Tapol of Ince & Co Germany acted as legal advisor to Hapag-Lloyd in the restructuring of all ship and container financing of UASC. Citigroup Global Markets Deutschland AG acted as the financial advisor for Hapag-Lloyd Aktiengesellschaft. Rebecca Emory, Gernot Wagner, Lutz Krämer, Karsten Wöckener, Bodo Bender, Michael Steiner, Marissa Florio and Mike Byrd of White & Case, Thomas Mansfeld, Hannah Paukens and Henning Wiese of InHouse law firm and Inhouserecht acted as legal advisor of Hapag-Lloyd Aktiengesellschaft (DB:HLAG) Marco Carbonare of Linklaters acted as advisor for the banks. Hapag-Lloyd AG (DB:HLAG) completed the acquisition of United Arab Shipping Company (S.A.G.) from Public Investment Fund, Kuwait Investment Authority, Qatar Investment Authority, Investment Corporation of Dubai, Iraqi Fund for External Development, Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company B.S.C. and other shareholders on May 24, 2017. Hapag-Lloyd AG will remain a publicly traded company with its headquarters in Hamburg. Hapag-Lloyd will establish a new regional headquarters in the Middle East.