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Saga Tankers eyes SD Standard Drilling takeover

Athens: SD Standard Drilling’s (SDSD) new majority shareholder Saga Tankers says it intends to make a mandatory offer for the remaining shares in SDSD within the next four weeks.

Over two transactions this week, Saga Tankers has purchased 94,012,569 shares in Oslo-listed SD Standard Drilling (SDSD) at a total cost of NOK 127m ($16.6m).

This brings Saga’s shareholding in SDSD to 53.5% or 140,078,869 shares, which under Norwegian law means it must make a mandatory offer for the company’s remaining shares.

Saga Tankers announced on May 20 its acquisition of 78,338,000 shares in SDSD from Clearwater Capital Partners. The stake was purchased at a price of NOK 1.35 ($0.17) per share or NOK 105.8m ($13.9m) in total.

In an exchange filing to the Oslo bourse today, Saga said it has gone back for more, spending NOK 21.2m ($2.8m) on a further 15,674,569 shares at the same price per share.

Oslo-listed Saga Tankers is currently merging with private-equity investment company Strata Marine & Offshore, and acquired a small stake in SDSD at the end of April.

After selling to Saga, Clearwater Capital no longer holds any stake in SDSD.

Holly Birkett

Holly is Splash's Online Editor and correspondent for the UK and Mediterranean. She has been a maritime journalist since 2010, and has written for and edited several trade publications. She is currently studying for membership of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers. In 2013, Holly won the Seahorse Club's Social Media Journalist of the Year award. She is currently based in London.
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