Dubai’s Transworld Holdings has failed in an attempt to take Indian container line Shreyas Shipping & Logistics private.
The parent group said in May that it wanted to remove the shipowner from the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange to boost operational flexibility.
Transworld had offered INR 375 ($4.50) per share to acquire 64.9m shares representing 29.56% of Shreyas.
But after bookbuilding in September, the discovered share price was INR 890.
The group rejected this and countered with INR 400 per share.
Transworld needed to reach 90% control, from 70.44% before the offer, but came in at 87.86%, a filing revealed.
It will not now buy any shares at all.
Shreyas was trading at INR 326 on Thursday in Mumbai.
The fleet consists of 11 boxships, two handysize bulkers and a multipurpose cargo vessel.
Transworld wanted to save time and money through the delisting, ploughing cash back into the business.
Chairman Sivaswamy Ramakrishnan said in May that the group was continuing efforts to simplify its structure.
He believed the offer gave investors a fair exit price.
In April, Shreyas snapped up three container vessels for Indian coastal trades from Lomar Shipping, CK Line and TS Lines following ship price collapses in the sector.
Transworld last year made a move into tankers with a double purchase of LR1s. The 74,000-dwt clean carriers were renamed TTC Vidyut and TTC Shakti (both built 2008).
