As Overseas Shipholding Group chief executive Sam Norton spoke to analysts on Friday, he announced he would not answer any questions about a January takeover offer from Saltchuk Resources.
But the Florida tanker owner’s share price may have answered for him.
The New York-listed company’s stock surged to a price of $6.95 on Friday — the highest level since 2016.
The shares closed the trading day at $6.72, a one-day dip of 0.9% but well above the $6.25-per-share offer by Saltchuk, a Seattle-headquartered maritime conglomerate.
As TradeWinds has reported, Saltchuk chairman Mark Tabbutt made an offer in late January to buy up the portion of OSG that it does not already own. At the time, it represented a 5.9% premium on the tanker company’s share price.
With 15.2m shares, Saltchuk is already the largest shareholder.
The bid would involve an outlay of nearly $355m based on OSG’s 72m outstanding shares, and it values the company at nearly $450m. OSG’s market capitalisation now stands at $484m.
On Friday, Norton indicated that OSG had not ruled the proposal out.
“Our board continues to carefully consider Saltchuk’s indication of interest in consultation with our outside financial and legal advisers and is committed to acting in the best interest of our stockholders,” he said .
But if analysts wanted to know more about OSG’s thinking, the chief executive was not going to oblige.
“Because the board’s work is ongoing, we do not intend to comment further on this call or to address questions regarding Saltchuk’s indication of interest or the possibility of any potential transaction,” he said.
“We respectfully ask that your questions be focused on the company’s recent financial results and its ongoing business activities.”
On Friday, the Jones Act tanker owner reported a $14.6m profit for the first quarter, up from $12.1m a year earlier.
Revenue jumped to $118m from $114m.
