Saltchuk Resources has closed its takeover of Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG) after two-thirds of the New York-listed tanker company’s remaining shareholders agreed to hand over their shares.
The $950m deal sees private Saltchuk add a mostly Jones Act tanker fleet to its diversified maritime portfolio that also includes US-flag container ship owner TOTE Maritime and regional liner operator Tropical Shipping.
And it takes the last pure-play US-flag tanker owner off the list of New York-listed companies.
“With OSG, Saltchuk now numbers more than 8,500 people who share one thing in common: every day we strive to safely, responsibly, and reliably perform our services,” Saltchuk chairman Mark Tabbutt said in an announcement of the transaction’s close.
“As with our other businesses, OSG will remain standalone and independently managed. We look forward to working alongside the OSG team as we move forward together.”
Saltchuk, which was already OSG’s largest shareholder, wasted no time in sealing the deal, after a tender offer for the equities it did not already own closed on Tuesday.
Investors cashed in nearly 47.8m shares in Saltchuk’s offer to buy them up at $8.50 apiece.
That represents 66% of the shares not controlled by the Seattle company.
OSG will operate as Saltchuk’s seventh business unit in a portfolio that also includes marine services, energy distribution, air cargo and logistics arms.
According to a securities filing, the results of the offer were sufficient to close the mergers-and-acquisition transaction without a shareholder vote and paved the way for Saltchuk, which owned 21.1% of OSG’s shares before the deal, to buy up remaining shares.
Saltchuk informed the New York Stock Exchange of its intent to delist OSG’s shares, and the tanker owner’s board of directors has resigned as part of the merger deal. Saltchuk then appointed Sam Norton as a director of OSG.
Saltchuk announced that it struck a deal with Norton-led OSG in May, after upping a previous offer amid a long courtship that saw the shipowner’s share price rise on the New York Stock Exchange in a hot Jones Act tanker market.
“The transaction with Saltchuk marks a significant development in the long history of OSG and we are very pleased that it has been successfully completed,” Norton said upon the close of the deal.
“Leadership at both of our companies sees the value of having our business lie within the Saltchuk family of companies, an organisation committed to sustaining the important role of the domestic maritime industry within the USA. The entire team at OSG looks forward to our future together.”
