Efstathios Topouzoglou and a group of investors are looking to buy up First Ship Lease Trust's outstanding shares in a move that could end up seeing the company taken private.
In regulatory filings Friday, Singapore-traded FSL Holdings — a firm controlled by Topouzoglou — announced it was offering $0.043 (SGD 0.0585) per share, a premium of roughly a third of its current trading price of $0.032, and $1,413.89 for every $1,000 principal amount in outstanding convertible bonds.
"It is the current intention of [FSL Holdings] that FSL Trust continues with its existing activities and there are presently no plans to make any material changes to FSL Trust's existing business," the filing read.
The filing goes on to say that if the group hits 90%, they would trigger the mandatory call option on the tanker owner's remaining shares.
The move comes after Topouzoglou grew his position in First Ship Lease Trust considerably through a $31.48m, 956 million share sale closed Tuesday.
The sale saw FSL Holdings take a 877.2 million stake in First Ship Lease Trust, up from 154.4 million. The holding company previously owned 24%. Now, it owns 55%.
Topouzoglou owns 57% of FSL Holdings through a series of companies. The remaining shares split evenly between Michail Chalkias and Stella Maris Holding.
In addition to Topouzoglou and Chalkias, Valarie Lim Lee Huang is included as a relevant person in the filing.
Thursday, the company was put on the Singapore Exchange's watch list, as its six-month average price was less than $0.15 with a capitalization of less than $29.39m.
Singaporean asset manager CEL Impetus Corporate Finance is working with the investors on the deal.
