A US District Court for the District of Columbia announced that it will grant the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) motion for an injunction to block Wilhelmsen’s acquisition of Drew Marine Technical Services.
Consequently, Wilhelmsen and Drew have agreed to abandon the transaction.
“We disagree with the views of the US competition authorities. This would have been an important strategic investment for our group, which we believe would have meant better services and better prices for our customer. We are therefore disappointed that we will not be able to bring the deal to a close,” says Thomas Wilhelmsen, group CEO in Wilhelmsen.
Wilhelmsen and Drew have agreed on a termination fee of USD 20 million. The fee will now be invoked and have a negative non-recurring effect on Wilhelmsen’s second quarter accounts.
Two months ago, the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore has found in a provisional decision the proposed acquisition by Norway’s Wilhelmsen Maritime Services of US rival Drew Marine’s technical solutions to be anti-competitive.