Danish shipping giant AP Moller-Maersk is moving into the third phase of its huge $1.5bn share buyback.

The Nasdaq Copenhagen-listed boxship specialist said it will seek to repurchase another DKK 2.4bn ($367m) of its stock through to July.

The idea of the buybacks is to adjust the capital structure of the company and to be able to meet obligations to bosses under long-term incentive programmes.

The company is aiming to acquire up to 3.12m shares in total over a 15-month period.

The second phase, which started on 26 September, has just been completed.

It saw shares worth DKK 3.3bn added to its pile, in addition to the DKK 3.3bn bought in the first phase.

The third phase will run up to 24 July.

A maximum of 208,168 A shares and 815,739 B shares can be acquired in that period.

The company has appointed Bank of America's BofA Securities Europe as its broker.

BofA will make its own trading decisions independently of and without influence from Maersk.

The Danish shipowner already holds 4.22% of its own stock, up from 2.36% at the end of the first phase.

Holding company taking part

The price paid cannot exceed that of the latest independent trade or the highest current independent offer price.

The maximum number of A and B shares must be below 20% of the daily trading volume over the previous 20 days.

A and B shares will be acquired in a 20/80 split reflecting the current trading volumes of the two share classes.

Parent company AP Moller Holding is taking part in the buyback, selling shares relative to its total ownership, which is 41.51%.

The group posted a loss in the fourth quarter as it adjusted vessel capacity to protect its margins.

The net deficit was $61m, against a profit of $44m in the same period of 2018, while it also paid more tax last year. Ebitda increased by 1% to $1.5bn.

Finance

Maersk to strike on third tranche in its mammoth $1.5bn share buyback