Twenty years after its listing on the Euronext Brussels stock exchange, Belgian gas shipowner and infrastructure player Exmar NV is to go back to private ownership.
The Saverys family announced on Monday that its investment vehicle Saverex intends to acquire the 51% it does not already own in the company, offering to buy out other shareholders at €12.1 for each of their stock, in cash.
This represents a premium of nearly 25% to the closing price of Exmar as of Friday.
As it applies to the 30,319,382 Exmar shares not directly or indirectly controlled by Saverys, the offer has a total value of €367m ($396.6m).
“The bid would be made subject to a number of conditions, including an acceptance threshold of 95% and customary material adverse change protection,” Exmar said in a statement on Monday.
According to the latest information on the Exmar website, shares representing nearly 46% of the company are in free float in the Brussels bourse. The remaining 5% is held by Cobas Asset Management, a part of Spanish family holding Santa Comba Gestion SL.
Saverex said it has informed Exmar’s board of directors about its intentions to launch the bid. The latter “have unanimously resolved to support and recommend [it],” subject to review of the prospectus to be published.
Degroof Petercam Corporate Finance has been appointed as an independent expert to assess the bid.
Exmar has been around as an LPG player since the 1980s. Its latest corporate form, Exmar NV, was created in 2003 when the company’s shares were publicly listed on the Brussel Euronexts’ First Market.
Income boost
According to its latest financial results published late last month, the company enjoyed a substantial income boost in 2022 with the sale and charter of infrastructure and shipping assets that turned Exmar into a debt-free entity.
Exmar logged a huge jump in its net results for 2022 up at $320.3m from just $11.6m a year earlier.
According to its website, Exmar owns or operates 18 midsize LPG carriers, 10 small pressurized gas carriers, as well as three VLGCs, one LNG carrier and one floating storage and regasification unit.
It also has two 46,000-cbm newbuildings under construction, due for delivery in 2024 and 2025.
Much of Exmar’s financial boost last year came from the sale of its only floating LNG (FLNG) production barge.
