Carrier, Daikin, Midea and Thermo King are amongst a procession of suitors reported to be bidding for A P Moller-Maersk’s refrigerated container business.
According to Bloomberg, the Danish integrated shipping company could be valued at as much as US$1bn.
The company plans to collect binding bids by late July. China International Marine Containers Group and investment company Triton, owner of HVAC businesses Flakt and Kelvion, are also rumoured to be interested.
Established in 1991, Maersk Container Industry manufactures refrigerated containers and refrigeration machines to customers in the intermodal industry, which covers shipping lines, fruit multinationals and leasing companies.
The company’s first dry container plant was established in Tinglev, Denmark in 1991. By 1995, manufacturing also included refrigerated containers and new container plants were established in China in 1998 and 2004. Eventually container manufacturing in Denmark would cease and today MCI focuses solely on manufacturing refrigerated containers from its facility in Qingdao, China.