A group of Aurora LPG shareholders are planning to appeal after losing a court fight over the takeover by larger rival BW LPG.
The plaintiffs, including former Aurora chief executive Borge Johansen and chief financial officer Nikolai Jebsen, claim that BW LPG breached the mandatory offer rules and paid NOK 500m ($60m) too little when it took over the Oslo-based VLGC owner in 2016.
They sued in a local court outside Oslo, calling for a forced sale of the Aurora shares at NOK 16 ($2) per share to BW LPG.
Represented by lawyer Anders Ryssdal of law firm Glittertind, their appeal is demanding that BW LPG pay an additional NOK 25 per share, according to Norwegian daily Finansavisen.
A key issue is a 9.84% stake that Belgian owner Transpetrol owned in Aurora. The suing shareholders allege that BW LPG's purchase of these shares in September 2016 would have triggered a mandatory offer for all Aurora shares. This is the case after an acquisition of more than 30% of a company .
BW LPG’s lawyers reject that the Transpetrol deal would call for a mandatory offer.
Some 60.2% of the Aurora shareholders approved the BW LPG takeover.
After the Aurora takeover added nine VLGCs, Olso-listed BW LPG isis the world’s largest VLGC owner, with 49 units.
