Floater specialist BW Offshore has accepted an offer by parent company BW Group to buy shares of affiliate company BW Energy at the second time of asking.
BW Group has on November 29, 2023, purchased 250,000 shares in BW Energy for NOK 23.7717 ($2.3) per share via an all-or-nothing order placed with a bank. Following this, BW Group held 103,202,470 shares in the company, representing 40% of the total shares outstanding and voting rights.
As a result of the transaction, BW Group had an obligation either to reduce its shareholding under 40% or to make a mandatory offer to purchase the remaining shares in BW Energy.
Earlier in January, the parent company decided to make a mandatory offer for the shares of BW Energy for NOK 27 ($2.61) per share with the offer period closing on January 12, 2024. The offer values the entire issued share capital of BW Energy at around NOK 6.97bn ($675m).
BW Offshore – which owns 58,111,461 or 22.52% shares in BW Energy – decided to say no to the initial offer. An improved offer by BW Group of NOK 32 ($3.05) per share was accepted by the floater specialist, resulting in total proceeds to BW Offshore of NOK 1.86bn or approximately $176m.
BW Offshore said that the independent directors of the company decided to accept the offer after assessing its strategy and other relevant factors, including external valuation advice. The firm has previously claimed that it does not consider the shareholding in BW Energy to be a long-term strategic investment.
“We are pleased to have obtained a price for BW Energy that is close to the highest that the shares have historically traded, which became possible following the outcome of BW Group’s mandatory offer resulting in BW Group holding approximately 52% of BW Energy,” CEO of BW Offshore Marco Beenen said.
