International shipping giant Hapag-Lloyd (ETR: HLAG) together with Israeli private equity firm FIMI Opportunity Funds have won the tender to acquire Zim Integrated Shipping Services (NYSE: ZIM) for over $3 billion.
The deal will be structured so that the German company will acquire the international operations of ZIM and FIMI will acquire the Israeli operations in which the state has a golden share. The broker in the deal is former Bank Leumi chairman Samer Haj Yehiya.
ZIM is traded on Wall Street at a market cap of $2.7 billion, and will be delisted from trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) through a reverse triangular merger. Estimates are that the deal will be carried out at a valuation of more than $3 billion.
The negotiations with the German shipping giant were first revealed by Globes in December. Hapag-Lloyd then added FIMI to the deal in order to try and overcome Israeli regulatory problems.
FIMI is buying ZIM, including the branding and the16 ships it owns, its financial strength and shipping lines mainly to the US, the Mediterranean and Black Sea, cooperation agreements with Hapag-Lloyd and responsibility for the “golden share” held by the Israeli government. Headquarters employees, and the employees sailing on the relevant lines (several hundred in total) will be absorbed by FIMI. A company that does not sail between Australia and China, will also maintain ZIM’s Israeli identity.
Hapag-Lloyd is buying the rest of ZIM’s operations, including its long-term chartered ships, and customers.
ZIM employees may launch protests
In the coming hours, the chairman of ZIM’s workers’ committee, Oren Caspi, will meet with the company’s board of directors, after the workers committee was surprised to learn about the closing of the deal. Following the unexpected developments, the employees may soon launch strong protest measures.
Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav is also opposed to the sale. He said, “ZIM Shipping Company, headquartered in Haifa, is no longer part of the Israeli economy. This is a company whose existence is of strategic significance to the economy and security of the State of Israel, and which has thousands of employees – a large part of whom live in Haifa. The transfer of its ownership to foreign hands, even if an Israeli investment fund is involved, is problematic to say the least and harms national security, and could also lead to the dismissal of thousands of workers.
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He added, “I demand that the Israeli government stop the move and prevent the sale – it is impossible for the State of Israel not to have a shipping company in Israeli hands, it is part of its economic and security existence.”
Hapag-Lloyd controls 7.4% of the global container ship market, which places it in fifth place in the world, while ZIM ranks ninth with 2.5%.
Shipping giants have been interested in acquiring the company, after the CEO since 2017, Eli Glickman, last year submitted an offer to acquire ZIM with shipping tycoon Rami Ungar, but ZIM’s board of directors decided to also examine other alternatives.
The possibility of acquiring control of ZIM arose after the previous controlling shareholder, Idan Ofer, through Kenon, sold his holdings. The company’s workers’ committee had previously strongly opposed the move. Hapag-Lloyd’s owners include Qatar Holdings (12.3%), an arm of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA); and the Saudi Wealth Fund (PIF) (10.2%).
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on February 15, 2026.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2026.
