Regulators in Polynesia are objecting to CMA CGM’s acquisition of Bolloré Logistics, telling the carrier the competition authority will block the deal unless it axes one of its liner services or sells Bolloré’s subsidiary in the region.
The Polynesian Competition Authority (APC) wants CMA CGM to terminate its Panama Direct Line (PAD) service over concerns of a monopoly in the region.
The APC decision, also requires CMA CGM to agree a ‘non-compete’ clause in Polynesia for five years.
APC was established in 2015 to regulate competition in French Polynesia and, uniquely in the French system, has legal independence, the first French overseas territory to be awarded such status.
Bolloré’s Polynesia subsidiary consists of just 37 staff running a 600 sq metre warehouse, so there is little expectation that the carrier would opt to drop the PAD, which runs from Belgium to Australia, via the US east coast and Panama Canal.
The service includes a call at the French Polynesian port of Papeete, on Tahiti.
Given Bollore’s 153 active global subsidiaries, the €4.65bn ($5bn) takeover, announced last May, remains contingent on approval by multiple competition authorities, including the European Commission’s, which is expected to issue its verdict soon.
If finally approved, the takeover of Bolloré would represent CMA CGM’s largest M&A deal since it bought Ceva Logistics in 2019.
Since then, it has ploughed money into Ingram CLS (2021), Gefco (2022) and Colis Privé (2022) in its strategy to raise its profile in global logistics and to reduce its reliance on container shipping and the volatile maritime market.