Boskalis keeps buying Fugro stock. Now owns 25.1 pct

Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V., a Dutch dredging and offshore contractor, has increased its holding in its compatriot Fugro N.V. to 25.1 percent.

Boskalis has been steadily increasing interest in Fugro since November 2014, but it again stressed that this is not a step towards making a takeover offer.

“Boskalis views Fugro as an interesting company with strong market positions in its core activities. The strategy of Boskalis is focused on offshore and (maritime) infrastructure, making use of the combination of high end know-how and maritime assets. This fits very well with the activities of Fugro. The two companies have a lot in common in the area of assets, knowledge, capital intensity, global coverage, client base and are both global leaders in niche markets,” Boskalis said in a statement late Friday.

Fugro doesn’t agree

Fugro, which has described Boskalis’ share building as unexpected and unsolicited, had this to say to the latest Boskalis move:

“The further stake building by Boskalis, a construction and installation contractor, remains unsolicited and unexpected. Fugro notes that Boskalis continues to state that its increased holding is not a step towards making an offer for Fugro.

Fugro reiterates that it highly values its position as the world’s leading independent geotechnical and survey data and services provider, which is core to Fugro’s strategy.

Fugro operates as independent consulting engineer, providing essential earth and engineering data, information and advice to a broad range of clients. Clients use the data, information and advice provided by Fugro amongst others to determine and optimise their choices for their construction and installation work.

This makes Fugro’s position highly sensitive to conflicts of interest in particular in relation to construction and installation contractors. Hence Fugro does not agree with the statement by Boskalis’ statement that Fugro’s activities “fit very well” with Boskalis. Fugro can only maintain its current market leading positions if it remains an independent service provider.”