Singapore’s owner and operator of very large gas carriers BW LPG Limited has acquired 3 million shares in Oslo-listed Aurora LPG Holding ASA, representing 10.34% of the outstanding shares in the company.
As a result of the transaction, BW LPG now holds a total of 3.59 million shares in Aurora LPG, representing 12.13% of the outstanding shares in the company, becoming its biggest shareholder.
The move comes following the rejection of Aurora LPG’s takeover from Avance Gas.
As part of the transaction, BW LPG has sold 2.5 million of its own existing shares held in treasury. As a result, BW LPG now holds 834,682 treasury shares, equivalent to 0.61% of the 136.2 million outstanding shares in BW LPG.
The announcement comes a day after Oslo-listed Aurora LPG Holding entered into a joint venture agreement with Wilhelmsen Ship Management (WSM) for the technical management of Aurora’s VLGC fleet.
The joint venture will be named “Aurora Wilhelmsen Managment Ltd” and will be incorporated in Hongkong.
Aurora LPG owns three 82,000 cbm VLGCs and six 84,000 cbm newbuilds scheduled for delivery from Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries in 2016.
BW LPG posted a net profit after tax of USD 106.2 million in Q3 2015 compared with USD 87.5 million in Q3 2014, mainly due to stronger TCE earnings and a larger fleet.
The fleet size of the goup comprises 35 VLGCs and five LGCs owned/operated, plus six VLGC newbuilds.