CMA CGM has reported its all-cash voluntary unconditional general offer for Neptune Orient Lines Ltd (NOL) closed on July 18, 2016, with CMA CGM now owning approximately 97.83 per cent of NOL's share capital.
Monday July 18 marked the last day of trading in shares of NOL on the Singapore Exchange. Trading in NOL was suspended.
Singapore's former national shipping company was acquired in a 3.38 billion Singapore dollar ($2.5 billion) acquisition by the French shipping line CMA CGM.
CMA CGM restated in a press release its earlier position, saying that it "does not intend to take any steps for the suspension to be lifted."
CMA has passed the required threshold allowing it to compel any remaining shareholders to sell; it has initiated the process for compulsory acquisition of the remaining two percent of shares on the market, at the same price offered for the voluntary buyout.
"As announced on June 28, 2016, CMA CGM has crossed the compulsory acquisition ownership threshold in NOL and confirms that it intends to exercise its rights to compulsorily acquire all the NOL shares held by NOL shareholders who have not accepted the Offer, in accordance with the Companies Act (Chapter 50 of Singapore)," explained CMA CGM.
Once it has made NOL a wholly-owned private subsidiary, CMA CGM intends to delist NOL from the exchange.
"CMA CGM will compulsorily acquire all remaining NOL shares at a price equal to the Offer Price of SGD1.30 as soon as practicable," stated CMA CGM.
CMA CGM will be a member of the Ocean Alliance along with Evergreen Line, Orient Overseas Container Line and Cosco China Shipping from April.
CMA CGM, founded and led by Jacques R. Saadé, is a leading worldwide shipping group. Its 450 vessels call at more than 400 ports in the world, across all 5 continents. In 2015, they carried 13 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units).
Headquartered in Singapore, NOL is the largest shipping company listed on the Singapore Exchange. Its container shipping arm, APL, provides world-class container shipping and terminal services, as well as intermodal operations supported by leading-edge IT and e-commerce.
