Gram Car Carriers shareholders have a little more time to consider MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company’s $700m takeover attempt.
Those with shares in the Oslo-listed car carrier lessor have until 1 July to decide whether or not to accept the Gianluigi Aponte-backed container shipping giant’s NOK 263.69 ($24.83) per share offer, Gram Car Carriers said in a stock exchange filing.
The deadline for acceptance was initially on Wednesday.
The company said the extension was common in takeover situations and was intended to give shareholders more time to tender their shares.
In the filing, the company said it would disclose the level of acceptances on Thursday “due to ongoing counting of received acceptances”.
MSC’s offer, first announced alongside Gram Car Carrier’s first-quarter earnings in April, garnered positive reviews from analysts and already had approval from major shareholders representing more than 54% of all shares.
Those backers included F Laeisz, AL Maritime Holding, Glenrinnes Farms and two companies connected to head of projects Mas Gram.
Earlier this month, chief executive Georg Whist, board chairman Ivar Myklebust, Gram and several other Gram Car Carriers board members and executives threw their weight behind the deal.
Still, MSC, through subsidiary SAS Shipping Agencies Services, is seeking 90% approval to take over the company.
It intends to continue running Gram Car Carriers as a lessor, where the company charters out ships to operators rather than running ships on its own.
When the deal was announced, Gram Car Carriers shares shot from NOK 212.50 to NOK 266.50.
On Wednesday, shares closed at NOK 255.50.
