Stuttgart – Chinese company China Cosco Shipping Limited (Cosco Shipping) has acquired 60% of the shares in Piraeus Europe Asia Rail Logistics (PEARL) Limited, a railway company mainly operating in Greece, North Macedonia, Serbia and Bulgaria. The transaction was conducted via the buyer’s Ocean Rail Logistics S.A. subsidiary and completed at the end of April 2020. Details of the deal were not disclosed.
An international CMS team headed by lead partner John Hammond advised COSCO on all legal aspects of the transaction. A special feature was that the entire transactional advice was based on English law. In addition to legal due diligence and negotiation of the shareholder agreement and purchase agreement, advice on competition law in Greece and North Macedonia was also involved. In Greece, CMS drew on support from local law firm Bernitsas. The instruction was won by Hamburg-based partner Dr Henrik Drinkuth. COSCO has been a CMS client for many years and regularly relies on the law firm’s expertise.
Cosco Shipping Lines Co. Ltd. is headquartered in Shanghai, China. The group’s core operations are in domestic and international sea container transport and related businesses. As at the end of December 2019, Cosco Shipping Lines comprised a total of 235 companies, of which 97 were domestic and 138 based outside China. The group generated total sales of around EUR 12.8 billion in 2019.
PEARL Group Limited, based in the Greek city of Piraeus, supports rail logistics and other freight forwarding services to and from the port of Piraeus and other Greek ports.
CMS Germany
John Hammond, Lead Partner
Dr Henrik Drinkuth, Client Relationship Partner
Pia Klages, Senior Associate
Dr Anja Wiedemann, Senior Associate
Lena Stoll, Associate, all Corporate/M&A
CMS Serbia
Marija Tešić
Anja Tasić
CMS Bulgaria
Gentscho Pavlov
Ivan Gergov
CMS North Macedonia
Marija Filipovska
Aleksandar Josimovski
Bernitsas (Greece)
Yannis Seiradakis
Marina Androulakakis
Press Contact
presse@cms-hs.com
