Exmar shareholders believe executive chairman Nicolas Saverys’ family vehicle Saverex will need to raise its offer if wants to buy out the 51% of publicly held stock to return the company to private ownership.
Bart Goemaere, who is editor-in-chief at Belgian investment magazine BeursTips/TuyauxBourse, which also holds Exmar stock, said: “There is a lot of resistance from investors in Belgium and abroad as the offer price is too low.”
Goemaere said Saverex will not be able to reach its 95% in Exmar to take the Belgian LPG shipowner and LNG infrastructure company Exmar off the stock market unless it offers a more sizeable premium to the €11.10 ($12.15) per share that has been offered.
He argues Exmar’s net asset value is worth more than €20 per share.
Goemaere estimates that more than 5% of all the shareholders “logically would not accept the offer” as it stands. Around half of these are made up of an online campaign of retail shareholders.
He told TradeWinds that Exmar is still in line to receive an option payment of up to $44m once its barge-based floating LNG production unit Tango FLNG is put into operation by Italian energy company Eni in the Republic of Congo.
He also said Exmar has the option to sell, recharter or extend the existing contract on its Eemshaven FSRU barge-based regasification unit, which could provide further upside.
The Saverys family-controlled vehicle officially launched its proposal to buy the outstanding stake on 7 June.
Shareholders have until 6 July to accept the cash offer of €12.10 per share and €2.48 per share option.
This represented a premium of nearly 25% to Exmar’s share price when the intention to take the company private was first announced on 3 April. The premium has since shrunk to about 12%.
Subtracting the €1-per-share dividend the company already announced last month, the bid price amounts to €11.10 per share and a €1.48-per-share option.
The results of the offer will be announced on 13 July.
The transaction will be deemed completed if Saverex boosts its holding to 95% of the company.
Around 46% of Exmar’s shares are in free float and 5% is held by Cobas Asset Management — a part of Spanish family holding Santa Comba Gestion.
On 20 June, Exmar announced that it had received notification that Cobas had crossed its 5% of voting rights on 16 June.
