Greek shipowner George Economou is still trying to take over tanker owner Performance Shipping despite getting nowhere with his share offer.
The tycoon’s Sphinx Investment Corp has extended the expiration date to 28 March next year.
The bid deadline for the US-listed target had already been stretched to 15 November from 8 November.
As of 14 November, not a single share had been tendered to Sphinx, a US securities filing revealed.
The stock closed down 2% at $2 on the Nasdaq exchange in New York on Wednesday.
Economou holds about 8.5% in Performance’s common shares.
The takeover offer was launched on 12 October at a time when the stock was trading at around $1.68.
Independent Performance directors have rejected the offer, and the controlling family of founder Simeon Palios is showing no signs of selling any of its combined 90% stake.
TradeWinds has also reported that Sphinx has filed a lawsuit asking a US court to step in to void the shareholding structure.
The company alleges that directors have breached their fiduciary duties to shareholders in dominating voting control of the company through dual-class ownership.
War of words
“A few members of a wealthy and powerful family abused the corporate machinery of a publicly traded, Nasdaq-listed company… to disenfranchise common stockholders and take for themselves much of the company’s value,” the complaint charges.
Performance has a fleet of eight aframaxes and LR2s, plus another LR2 on order.
Economou has said he could change the management, remove the board and sell off all or some of the ships if he had control of Performance.
He invested in the company in August, sparking a war of words.
Economou accused the tanker owner of governance violations, sought a seat on the board and called for existing directors to resign.
A New York securities lawyer representing the Performance board responded with a publicly filed letter describing the Economou camp’s claims as “riddled with baseless allegations, errors and mischaracterisations of events”.
