Wilh Wilhelmsen Holding chief executive Thomas Wilhelmsen has made an estimated NOK 1.4bn ($154m) counter-offer to buy out a group of relatives seeking to contest his right to run the major Norwegian shipping group.
His Cetus holding company has offered to buy the shares held by his six cousins and an aunt, collectively known as the M-Group, in the jointly owned company Taurus.
The offer expires on 1 December 2020 and will not be repeated.
"This is not my preferred option as my wish was to continue with a joint ownership in line with what our family has succeeded with for generations," Wilhelmsen said in a statement on Tuesday.
"However, despite several efforts to solve the situation, I see no other option than to put forward a bid for the M-Group's shares."
An investigation by TradeWinds' sister newspaper DN in September revealed details of a long-simmering family row over management and male succession in the Wilh Wilhelmsen group.
Family feud
The seven female heirs are fed up with the power in the family shipping company still being vested in just one man.
They offered roughly NOK 3.2bn ($353m) to get rid of chief executive Wilhelmsen, but he rejected this.
The power struggle for the empire worth billions and thereby for control of the Wilh Wilhelmsen Holding shipping company came to a head after shipowner Wilhelm Wilhelmsen died in February.
One of Norway's oldest shipping companies, Wilh Wilhelmsen Holding is a listed maritime conglomerate with more than 15,000 employees worldwide.
Offer at a discount
DN reported that Thomas Wilhelmsen is now putting NOK 1.4bn ($154m) on the table in his offer.
The newspaper's calculations claim the fair value of the shares in Taurus is close to NOK 3.4bn.
The CEO added that the offer should meet his cousins' and aunt's wish to end the joint ownership.
"I also see this as an effort to ensure good, predictable frame conditions and working conditions enabling sustainable value creation for shareholders in Wilh Wilhelmsen Holding and other family-controlled companies as well as for business partners, customers, and employees," he said in a statement.
The statement said the offer "significantly exceeds" the discounted prices the M-Group have paid to acquire shares in Taurus from family members, which DN put at 50% of their value.
Wilhelmsen also said he believes the deal is in line with what financial and legal advisors recommend for similar transactions with unlisted shares in holding structures.
Offer being examined
The female relatives are Wilhelmsen's cousins Olympia Paus, Pontine Paus, Cathrine Lovenskiold Wilhelmsen, Hedvig Juell, Maren Juell and Hannah Wilhelmsen, and his aunt Helen Juell.
Lovenskiold Wilhelmsen told DN: "We received the offer at the same time as we could read about it in the online newspapers this morning. We are now taking a closer look at it together with our advisors. So far, we have nothing more to say about that case."
DN cited the offer document as saying Cetus had proposed an Oslo over-the-counter listing of the shares in Taurus, which was rejected by M-Group.
"This offer is based on generosity and not duty or commercial assessments," the documents say.
The Wilhelmsen group owns almost half of the listed shipping company Wilh Wilhelmsen Holding.
