Emanuele Grimaldi has grabbed the second-largest stake in Hoegh Autoliners, fuelling speculation a second Italian could be launching a raid on the Norwegian car carrier sector.
The move follows billionaire Gianluigi Aponte’s NOK 7.6bn ($700m) bid to take over Gram Car Carriers, taking the company off the Oslo Stock Exchange and into the MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company fold.
Oslo-listed Hoegh Autoliners disclosed on Tuesday that Grimaldi, the managing director at family-owned Grimaldi Group, had purchased 9.78m shares, or 5.12% of the company.
This positions it second only to the Hoegh family holding company, Leif Hoegh & Co, which holds 79.3m shares.
The shares were acquired by the shipping scion’s Caprim Srl and EG Holding Srl.
“As a general rule, we do not comment on specific trades in our shares. For comments regarding individual share transactions, we would refer to the relevant shareholder,” Hoegh Autoliners chief executive Andreas Enger said.
Grimaldi Group declined to comment as the share buy is a personal investment of Emanuele Grimaldi.
Naples-based Grimaldi Group owns a string of both international and regional ro-ro and ferry services, including Grimaldi Deepsea, Finnlines and Atlantic Container Lines.
Following Tuesday’s disclosure, Fearnley Securities analyst Oystein Vaagen said a transaction between Grimaldi and Hoegh Autoliners would be positive but unlikely given the owner’s current trading levels.
“We believe a potential transaction will be accretive for both parties on the back of higher price discovery for current shareholders and access to a pristine fleet with high-quality long-term contracts for the potential counterparty,” he said.
He pegged Hoegh Autoliners’ net asset value at NOK 128 per share, significantly above the NOK 115 shares hit on Tuesday following a post-disclosure rally. He said a takeover price would likely have to reach NOK 162 per share to seem more realistic.
In early Thursday trading, Hoegh Autoliners shares surged to a peak of NOK 12.60 from the previous close, driven by the news, before settling back to NOK 11.10.
Vaagen also pointed out Grimaldi Group has 17 pure car/truck carriers on order, with data from Clarksons showing all of the 9,000-ceu ships are ammonia-ready and 10 of which have battery propulsion options.
Hoegh Autoliners, meanwhile, has 12 such vessels on order, all of which can run on LNG with methanol and ammonia-fuelling capabilities.
As it stands, Grimaldi Group owns 20 PCTCs.
