GC Rieber Shipping to distribute Shearwater stake to shareholders
Norway’s GC Rieber Shipping has moved to give its stake in offshore seismic firm Shearwater Geoservices to investors.
The Oslo-listed shipowner is proposing a distribution of 5m shares equal to 8.5% stake it owns in Shearwater as an extraordinary dividend.
GC Rieber said it plans to distribute one share in Shearwater for every 17.22 shares held in the company, rounded down to the nearest number of whole shares. “The residual after rounding down to the nearest number that can be divided by 17.22 will be compensated in cash to the affected shareholders according to the fair value of the shares in Shearwater on the day of the transfer,” the company said.
GC Rieber`s fair value estimate of the Shearwater share as of today is NOK109 per share or about $50.6m in total. The proposal will be resolved at the general meeting in August this year.
Shearwater was established in 2016 as a joint venture by GC Rieber Shipping and Rasmussengruppen. The company is the top seismic vessel player, with SLB, formerly Schlumberger, also on board as its main shareholder. GC Rieber halved its holding in the Bergen-based firm in July 2021 and last October diversified its portfolio by signing up for up to four wind service operation vessels (SOVs) at Cemre shipyard in Turkey, with the first delivery expected in the first quarter of 2025.
“The board of directors find it desirable for GC Rieber Shipping to focus on its core activities in order to pursue opportunities in the market,” GC Rieber said in an Oslo filing.
