Saverex, the holding company of the family of Nicolas Saverys, is continuing with its efforts to take Exmar private after failing short in its initial bid last month.
The firm officially launched the offer in June to buy all shares and stock options in Exmar which are not already directly or indirectly in the possession of Saverex or its affiliates.
It offered a price of 12.10 euros per share, minus the dividend of 1 euro per share, resulting in a price of 11.10 euros per share ($12 per share).
Following the completion of the initial accepted period in July, Saverex has 44,234,979 shares in Exmar, representing 74.35 percent of the outstanding shares in Exmar.
Taking into account the shares in Exmar held by Nicolas Saverys and by Exmar, this represents 77.76 percent of the outstanding shares.
Saverex decided to voluntarily reopen the bid without conditions from August 28 to September 15, it said in a statement last week.
Shareholders who have not yet accepted the bid will thus be able to accept the bid during this second acceptance period, it said.
However, Saverex decided to keep the same price as in the initial bid.
Since the announcement of the results of the initial acceptance period, the Exmar share has traded “slightly above” the bid price, it said.
“Saverex is of the opinion that this increase of the share price may be caused by market speculation regarding a potential increase of the bid price,” the firm said.
The firm believes that the bid price of 11.10 euros per share “adequately reflects the fair value of Exmar, as confirmed in the prospectus and by selling shareholders in the first acceptance period.”
Exmar operates a fleet of LPG carriers and owns the 26,000-cbm barge-based FSRU Eemshaven LNG, which serves Gasunie’s facility in Eemshaven.
Last year, Exmar sold its Tango FLNG to Eni and entered into a deal for the 2002-built steam turbine LNG carrier, Excalibur.