Global law firm White & Case LLP has advised United Arab Shipping Company (UASC) on its agreement to merge with Germany-headquartered Hapag-Lloyd AG.

The combined company will rank among the world's five largest container shipping lines, with a fleet of 237 ships and annual turnover of around US$12 billion. It will remain a stock-listed company in Germany with its head office in Hamburg.  The current majority shareholders of UASC, Qatar Holding LLC and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, will become key shareholders in the new Hapag-Lloyd, holding approximately 14 percent and ten percent respectively.

UASC is a global shipping company founded in 1976 and based in the Middle East. It has 186 offices worldwide and is the largest container shipping line in the Middle East and adjacent markets, covering 275 ports and destinations across the world.

The White & Case team which advised on the transaction was co-led by partners Roger Kiem (Frankfurt) and Michiel Visser (Doha/Dubai), and included partners Abdulwahid Alulama (Abu Dhabi), Christopher Frampton (New York), Farhad Jalinous (Washington, DC), Axel Schulz (Brussels) and Alison Weal (London), local partners Markus Stephanblome and Florian Ziegler (both Frankfurt), and associates Jan Ole Eichstädt, Simon Rommelfanger (both Frankfurt), Sarah Katharina Goetze (Hamburg), Sonia Abdul-Rahman (Dubai), Sam Harding, Andrew Harper (both London), Charbel Abou Charaf (Doha), Daniel Moon (New York), Jeffrey Dressler (Tokyo), Richard Papenbrock, Yasmin Weber (both Berlin), Mohamed Hasan (Abu Dhabi) and Jan Jeram (Brussels).