A.P. Møller - Mærsk A/S becomes a major shareholder in Höegh Autoliners

ANNOUNCEMENT




A.P. Møller - Mærsk A/S becomes a major shareholder in Höegh Autoliners 


The A.P. Moller - Maersk Group has sold its 18 car carriers (including 6
newbuildings) to Höegh Autoliners and will simultaneously become a shareholder
with a 37.5% ownership. 

In February 2007 the parties signed a co-operation agreement whereby the A.P.
Moller - Maersk Group entered its fleet of car carriers into a commercial
operation controlled by Höegh Autoliners. The sale will move A.P. Møller -
Mærsk from being a tonnageowner of car carriers to a shareholder in Höegh
Autoliners which is a car carrier operator. After the transaction Höegh
Autoliners will commercially operate 67 vessels from its offices in Oslo and 30
locations world-wide. The transaction will not impact employees in the A.P.
Moller - Maersk Group. Reference is made to the attached joint press release of
today. 

The transaction, which is subject to relevant approvals from regulatory
authorities, will generate an accounting gain of around USD 200 million after
tax in 2008 and is not expected to have any additional significant effect on
the result for A.P. Møller - Mærsk for 2008.  Höegh Autoliners will become an
associated company of the A.P. Moller - Maersk Group. 


Copenhagen, 30 January, 2008


Contact person: Søren Skou, Partner - telephone +45 3363 4800



















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PRESS RELEASE



Höegh Autoliners strengthens its platform for growth:
Welcomes A.P. Moller - Maersk as shareholder in Höegh Autoliners

30 January 2008 (Oslo and Copenhagen).  
Höegh Autoliners and A.P. Møller - Mærsk A/S has announced their agreement for
A.P. Møller - Mærsk A/S to become a shareholder in Höegh Autoliners holding
37.5 per cent of the shares effective from 1 January 2008. Leif Höegh & Co
Limited will retain the position as majority shareholder in Höegh Autoliners. 

At the same time Höegh Autoliners acquires A. P. Moller - Maersk's fleet of 18
car carriers (including six newbuildings). Höegh Autoliners will commercially
operate the combined fleet of about 67 vessels globally from its offices in
Oslo and about 30 locations world-wide under the Höegh Autoliners brand.
Vessels already ordered by the Company will grow its carrying capacity by 45
per cent to 85 ships in 2012. Closing of the transaction is expected to take
place in March 2008 once any applicable regulatory approvals have been
received. 

In doing this transaction, the parties build on their existing tonnage
cooperation. The two parties entered a tonnage co-operation agreement effective
from 1 February 2007 whereby 
A.P. Moller - Maersk entered its fleet of 12 car carriers into a commercial
operation controlled by Höegh Autoliners. This has worked to both parties
satisfaction adding valuable capacity to Höegh Autoliners' operation in a
period when customers' transportation requirements are growing. 

With A.P. Moller - Maersk as a shareholder, Höegh Autoliners will strengthen
its financial and strategic position for further growth and its ability to
provide increased capacity and enhanced services to meet customers'
requirements. A. P. Moller - Maersk is well recognized as a world leading
company within shipping, logistics, port operations and port to port
efficiency. 

“We welcome A.P. Moller - Maersk as shareholder in Höegh Autoliners,” says
Westye Høegh, Chairman of the Board. “When my father, Leif Høegh, ordered his
first vessel, M/T Varg from Odense Staalskibsværft in 1927, Mr. A.P. Møller
took a stake in the vessel. That was the start of a prosperous voyage, and
having A.P. Moller - Maersk on board again makes a strong company even stronger
and well positioned for exciting developments in challenging waters ahead.” 

 “Through the shareholding in Höegh Autoliners we are looking forward to moving
from being a tonnage provider in the car carrier market to participating
directly in a world class car carrier liner operation. We find the outlook for
the industry attractive as car manufacturing increasingly takes place in Asia
and as new markets in India and China develop. We believe in Höegh Autoliners'
strategy and believe we can contribute positively to the cooperation based on
our Group's capabilities within liner shipping and logistics” says Søren Skou,
Partner & Member of Group Executive Board of A.P. Moller - Maersk. 

“With A.P. Moller - Maersk as a partner we have secured a platform for
continued growth and enhanced our position for further strengthening our
services,” says Thor Jørgen Guttormsen, CEO of Höegh Autoliners. “This improves
our ability to meet our customers' current and future requirements for services
and transportation volume and strengthens our strategic implementation
capacity.” 





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Growth strategy is enhanced
Höegh Autoliners' strategy is to grow with its global customers offering
worldwide transportation services based on the core competencies as a port to
port transportation provider and to be a network partner providing these
services in a network of dedicated logistics suppliers. 

Strong customer growth is motivating expansion and new ways of thinking
The world production of factory new cars has grown steadily to about 65 million
units in 2007. World car production is expected to continue growing to about 90
million units in 2015 representing an annual growth rate of 3-4%. Historically
about 15% of the production volume is exported overseas. 

The globalisation of the car manufacturing industry has brought about changes
in the global production patterns which are affecting seaborne transportation
positively resulting in additional demand for transportation services. 

On this background Höegh Autoliners expects continued growth in the market for
Ro/Ro car carriers and experiences that customers consider future
transportation capacity to be of high strategic importance. 

The current market situation is characterized by capacity squeeze. 

Höegh Autoliners
Höegh Autoliners started its Ro/Ro car carrier operation in 1969 and deploys
some 67 vessels in its global trade systems which are managed from a worldwide
network of 30 offices. The fleet consists of owned and chartered vessels. Main
customers are major manufacturers of new cars, heavy machinery and rolling
goods and Höegh Autoliners carried about 1.9 million car equivalent units (CEU)
in 2007. 

Höegh Autoliners is in the middle of a fleet expansion programme and 16 more
newbuildings already ordered (including 6 from A.P. Moller - Maersk) will be
delivered from 2008 to 2011.  See: http://www.hoeghautoliners.com 

A.P. Moller - Maersk
A.P. Moller - Maersk is an international company of Danish origin widely
recognized for its activities within shipping, energy, offshore, retail and
industry. The A.P. Moller - Maersk Group has more than 110,000 employees and
offices in around 130 countries. 
See: http://www.maersk.com



Contacts

Thor Jørgen Guttormsen 		Søren Skou	
Chief Executive Officer,		Partner & Member of Group Executive Höegh
Autoliners			Board, 
Tel: +47 4003 9888			A.P. Møller - Mærsk A/S
thor.jorgen.guttormsen@hoegh.com	Tel: +45 3363 4800		
				soren.skou@maersk.com







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