Hapag-Lloyd Acquires 100% of ZIM for $4.2B
Catch up on the weekend's top five stories with this list compiled by The Fly: 1) Hapag-Lloyd (HLGAF) announced that following approval by the relevant bodies of both parties, the company signed an agreement to acquire 100% of the outstanding shares of ZIM Integrated (ZIM). The consideration is to be $35.00 per ZIM share in cash, with the total consideration amounting to approximately $4.2B. The transaction will be financed from Hapag-Lloyd's cash reserves and external financing of up to $2.5B. The transaction is currently expected to be completed by the end of 2026. 2) Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) is considering reopening sales talks with Paramount Skydance (PSKY) after receiving its most recent amended offer, Lucas Shaw and Michelle Davis of Bloomberg report, citing people with knowledge of the matter. Warner's board is discussing whether Paramount could offer a superior deal that could bring a second bidding war with Netflix (NFLX), sources told Bloomberg. The board hasn't decided how to respond and still has a binding agreement with Netflix, Bloomberg points out. Warner still has some concerns about Paramount's offer, but this is the first time the board has considered Paramount's offer could lead to a better deal or prompt Netflix to up its bid, according to Bloomberg. 3) Volkswagen (VWAGY) intends to cut costs by 20% across its brands by the end of 2028, Reuters reports, citing Manager Magazin. CEO Oliver Blume and CFO Arno Antlitz presented a "massive" savings plan mid-January, which is meant to help the company navigate the impact of higher costs, tougher Chinese market, and U.S. tariffs, the publication added. 4) Eli Lilly (LLY) announced topline results from the Phase 3 LIBRETTO-432 clinical trial of Retevmo as adjuvant therapy versus placebo. The study met its primary endpoint, demonstrating a highly statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in investigator-assessed event-free survival in patients with early-stage rearranged during transfection fusion-positive non-small cell lung cancer. Overall survival results trended in favor of selpercatinib, but were immature at the time of this analysis with few events observed. The overall safety profile of selpercatinib in LIBRETTO-432 was generally consistent with previously reported trials in the selpercatinib development program. 5) Hyatt Hotels (H) announced that Thomas Pritzker, Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors, has informed the Board that he will retire as Executive Chairman, effective immediately, and will not seek re-election to the Board of Directors at Hyatt's upcoming Annual Meeting of Stockholders in May. The Board has appointed Mark Hoplamazian, Hyatt's President and Chief Executive Officer, to succeed Pritzker as Chairman of the Board, effective immediately.
