Shipper China Merchant Holdings and logistics enterprise Sinotrans & CSC Holdings are to merge, according to Bloomberg.
As part of the agreement China Merchants Group and Sinotrans & CSC Holdings will restructure and integrate, citing unidentified people close to the state-asset regulator and form the two companies.
Bloomberg reported ship.sh as saying the merger and restructuring between China Merchants and Sinotrans is almost certain.
China Merchants has recently released its H1 results, where the port operator saw profits rise to more than US$358 million.
This follows an announcement that the company had raised around $700 million in bonds that it intends to use to develop its port operations.
This potential merger also comes at a difficult time, with the recent crash in the Chinese stock market, which could have implications on the supply chain and therefore ports and shipping lines.
Recently, there has been a proposed merger between China Shipping and Cosco, with delays of the merger suggesting that the combination of both companies joining may not take place.
Fact File: China Merchants Group has interests in transportation and infrastructure construction, and also controls finance and real estate companies including China Merchants Bank Co.
