The consortium that has made on offer to buy all outstanding shares in Atlas Corp, the parent company of container ship leasing giant Seaspan Corp, said in an update of Friday that it believed it has made “meaningful progress” in its discussions with the special committee of independent investors that Atlas has formed to evaluate its takeover bid.
The update issued by Poseidon Acquisition Corp, which is acting on behalf of the consortium, indicated that the offer price of $15.5 for outstanding shares remained unchanged despite falling container rates and analyst expectations of structural overcapacity in the liner sector.
The consortium comprises of Atlas chairman David Sokol, certain affiliates of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, the Washington Family, and Singapore-based Ocean Network Express (ONE).
Poseidon submitted the consortium’s initial bid on 4 August to acquire outstanding shares of the New York-listed company at $14.45m.
This offer price was raised to $15.5 per share on 26 September.
The improved offer was made amid a worsening economic outlook and increased the cost of capital, Atlas chairman David Sokol said at the time.
Analysts have predicted recently that container tonnage supply could outstrip vessel demand next year due to the record high orderbook and the widespread easing of the port congestion problems that tied up a lot of vessel capacity over the past two years.
The consortium said on Friday that it does not expect to make any further announcements or updates unless and until a definitive agreement is executed or discussions with the special committee are terminated.
