The acceptance period for Saverco’s bid to take over Belgium’s CMB will begin on Thursday and run until markets close on November 6.
Saverco, led by its chairman Marc Saverys, and its affiliates currently hold a combined 50.80% stake (17,781,092 shares) in CMB.
The company aims to acquire all CMB’s 17,218,908 outstanding shares for a bid price of €16.20 per share. The buy-out would see the Belgian company delisted from the Euronext Brussels stock exchange and taken back into private ownership.
The offer price is a 1.6% premium on CMB’s current share price, which today is trading at €15.94 per share. However, CMB’s stock has risen by around 19% since the buy-out was announced on September 6, when it closed at €13.42 per share.
The takeover bid is voluntary and subject to the condition that Saverco and its affiliates acquire at least 90% of all CMB’s shares as a result of the bid. The process will proceed so long as no event occurs that has an adverse effect on CMB’s $12.5m consolidated EBITDA and/or the Baltic Dry Index does not fall below 668 points.
Saverco has the right to launch a ‘squeeze-out’ if it holds at least 95% of CMB’s outstanding shares when the bid period expires, or will exercise a ‘simplified squeeze-out’ if it holds at least 90% at that time.
The results of the bid are expected to be published on November 12, with payment scheduled for the following day.
“Through the privatisation of the company, CMB will be able to compete in a more efficient way with competitors from Asia and the United States by focusing on the consolidation and specialisation of the shipping segments in which the company is active. The delisting will also give CMB more flexibility in accessing alternative financing instruments,” Saverys said in early September.
