Taylor Maritime Investments (TMI) has announced the completion of the deal to acquire the remaining shares in Grindrod Shipping Holdings.
In a statement to the London Stock Exchange TMI said its offer to acquire all the issued ordinary shares in the capital of Grindrod had reached the final level of acceptance.
TMI had taken its ownership of Grindrod up to 78.3%, but there was a further offering to mop up the remaining stock which expired on 19 December.
The final acceptances have taken TMI’s effective ownership to 83.23%.
Late last month The London-listed, Ed Buttery-led company said that the takeover, valuing Grindrod at $494m, had become unconditional after investors tendered 8.97m shares.
The dry bulk player is paying $26 per share for the Singapore-based, Nasdaq-listed owner.
TMI’s 26 owned handysizes will be combined with Grindrod’s 31 ships: 12 ultramaxes, four supramaxes and 15 handies.
The two companies have a market cap of $919m, while VesselsValue assesses their ships as worth $799m.
TMI is understood to have emerged from a pack that included multiple other public companies. Potential suitors included US-listed Genco Shipping & Trading and Eagle Bulk Shipping.
In an earlier statement, TMI said the deal is an “exciting opportunity” to combine the fleets into one “significant owner” in its vessel sizes.
“The complementary nature of the companies’ fleets and enhanced operational scale in the geared dry bulk sector will create meaningful additional value for shareholders and customers that both companies serve,” it added.
