CMA CGM launches all-cash offer for remaining NOL shares

The CMA CGM offer followed approvals by the relevant regulatory authorities in the European Union and China.

CMA CGM said the offer price is SGD1.30 ($0.96) per NOL share in cash, which CMA CGM does not intend to increase.

“Six months after the announcement, and after receiving the relevant authorizations, CMA CGM today [6 June] opens its offer for NOL shares. We offer each and every NOL shareholder SGD1.30 per share in cash. In a particularly challenging international context in the shipping sector, our offer fully and fairly values NOL,” said Rodolphe Saade, vice-chairman of CMA CGM.

The offer provides NOL shareholders with an opportunity to realise their investment in NOL at a 49% premium to NOL’s unaffected share price on 16 July 2015 and a 33% premium to NOL’s three-month volume-weighted average share price prior to 16 July 2015, according to the French container line.

The total carrying capacity of CMA CGM and NOL would increase to approximately 2.35m teu, giving them a market share of around 11.7%, a fleet of some 540 vessels and a combined annual turnover of about $21bn.

CMA CGM currently owns 10.5% of all NOL shares, and it intends to delist the Singapore-listed company and privatise NOL through the takeover offer. NOL is majority controlled by Singapore’s Temasek Holdings and its affiliates, which own 66.78% of all NOL shares.