Belgian authorities have joined their US counterparts in slapping down an attempt by a New York investor to block Saverys family company Compagnie Maritime Belge from acquiring the remaining shares in tanker owner Euronav.
The buyout therefore closed on Friday, Euronav said.
As TradeWinds has reported, CMB had previously disclosed on Thursday that a US federal judge had rejected FourWorld’s attempt to secure a preliminary injunction that would have blocked the closing.
“Euronav … has been informed that the Market Court in Belgium has also denied a request to suspend the closing of the Belgian offer,” said the tanker company, which is listed in New York and Brussels.
“Both the US offer and the Belgian offer have closed earlier today as scheduled.”
The fund initiated proceedings in the US at the end of February, and a parallel suit in Belgium was revealed this month.
CMB’s lawyer, Michael Keats of Fried Frank, claimed that FourWorld stated in the European proceedings that it intended to use confidential and proprietary documents produced by CMB in the US action.
Euronav said the complaint sought mainly for CMB to adjust the bid price, taking into account alleged special benefits that would have been granted to Frontline on top of the cash purchase price paid by CMB for Frontline’s shares of the company.
FourWorld has not commented.
CMB launched a mandatory bid for the remaining shares in VLCC and suezmax specialist Euronav in February, following the acquisition of Frontline’s stake, which lifted CMB’s ownership of Euronav to 57%.
Since that deal, FourWorld has increased its own stake in Euronav from just under 1% to 2.41% by acquiring at least 3.13m shares for $55.8m.
CMB chief executive Alexander Saverys appeared at the Capital Link Shipping Forum in New York on Monday to challenge sceptics, including financial professionals who have cast doubt on CMB’s ability to position itself as an “investible green shipping platform”.
Despite the good news from the company viewpoint, Euronav shares were not having a good day in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange, falling 5% to $16.93 per share.
