Dutch maritime group Royal Boskalis Westminster continues to re-focus on core businesses by selling all of its remaining shares in subsea specialist Fugro.
The reduction was accomplished through a successful accelerated bookbuild via which 7,932,532 (9.38%) shares were placed wit[ds_preview]h institutional investors, Boskalis announced. The price is 14.50 € per share. The bookbuild commenced on 28 February 2017 after closing of Euronext Amsterdam.
»At the time of the accelerated bookbuild in December 2016, Boskalis entered into a 90 days lock-up with the Joint Bookrunners, who have agreed to waive that lock-up with respect to the Shares sold pursuant to this transaction«, Boskalis added.
It was only in December, when, »partly due to uncertain market conditions«, the group had reduced its holding in Fugro to 9.38%, as well at 14.50 € per share. CEO Peter Berdowski had commented that »despite our conviction that parts of Fugro fit very well with Boskalis, we recently decided to sell down our Fugro holding in steps. This decision is on the one hand based on the uncertain market conditions which continue to prevail much longer than anticipated and on the other hand also the position of the Fugro management. Through the gradual sell down we have taken away uncertainty in our own share and we expect to create more value for our shareholders going forward.«
Earlier that month, Boskalis had already announced the sale of its stake in SMIT Amandla Marine (SAM), a move that had already been announced in March 2016. The stake was sold to management and local investors, thereby returning the business of SAM to 100% South African ownership.
Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. describes itself as a global services provider operating in the dredging, maritime infrastructure and maritime services sectors, including marine services and contracting for the oil and gas sector and offshore wind industry as well as salvage solutions (SMIT Salvage). Furthermore, the group has a number of strategic partnerships in harbour towage and terminal services (KOTUG SMIT Towage, Keppel Smit Towage, Saam Smit Towage and Smit Lamnalco).
