Keppel Corp is selling its majority stakes in each of Keppel Smit Towage and Maju Maritime as part of its divestment strategy.
The Singapore group is selling the 51% stakes to Rimorchiatori Mediterranei for SGD 133m ($98.4m), it said in a regulatory statement issued on Monday.
The company added that completion of the divestments is conditional upon the receipt of approval from regulatory authorities in Singapore.
Keppel said it anticipates the sale of the stakes to be completed by the first half of 2022 and that it expects to recognise a gain of approximately SGD 72m from the divestments.
"The divestments are part of Keppel Offshore & Marine’s strategic review to streamline and divest its non-core assets," the company said.
This is in line with Keppel's Vision 2030 plans to be "more focused and disciplined" as it executes its mission to provide solutions for sustainable urbanisation.
Keppel has previously stated that it intends to offload assets or investments worth between SGD 3bn and SGD 5bn as part of its new strategy.
To date, it has announced the monetisation of more than SGD 2.3bn in assets from October 2020 to July 2021 and completed about half of the transactions.
Keppel Smit Towage was established in 1991 under a joint venture between Keppel Shipyard Investments and Smit Singapore, which is part of Royal Boskalis Westminster.
It is one of the largest harbour tug service providers in Singapore and the wider Asia-Pacific region, and operates a fleet of 73 harbour tugs ranging from 1,600 to 5,600 bhp.
Keppel has previously announced that it had received bids for its logistics business, which are currently being evaluated with analysts expecting a binding offer by the end of the year.
Keppel and Sembcorp Marine are also in preliminary discussions on a potential combination of their offshore-related businesses.
The timeline for the parties to reach an agreement was recently extended from the fourth quarter of 2021 to early next year.
Analysts have said that while nothing has been firmed up, they view the discussions positively as it provides better clarity on the fate of Keppel's offshore arm.
