BW LPG Goes After Aurora

Singapore-based BW LPG Limited will launch a voluntary tender offer for all of the remaining shares in Aurora LPG after its subsidiary, BW LPG Holding Limited, bought 877,813 additional shares yesterday and increased its stake in the company to 32.79%.

Following the latest acquisition, the second one this week, BW LPG Holding owns 9,730,654 shares in Aurora LPG.

BW LPG now plans to offer either 0.3175 shares in BW LPG and NOK 6.15 (USD 0.74) in cash; or NOK 12.30 in cash for each remaining share in Aurora.

The voluntary offer will be subject to a minimum acceptance ratio of 90%, including the shares already owned by BW LPG, competition clearances and other customary conditions.

BW LPG is in the process of preparing an offer document for the offer, and the offer will be launched following regulatory approval of the offer document, expected to take place at the beginning of November 2016.

Transpetrol Limited, one of Aurora’s shareholders, representing 2,919,655 shares (9.84%), has irrevocably undertaken to accept the offer for all of its shares in the company. BW LPG and Transpetrol Limited together, excluding treasury shares held by Aurora LPG, represent 44.17% of shares in the company.

“We believe that the Offer will provide an attractive opportunity for the Aurora LPG shareholders, to maintain exposure to and participate in, the future upside in the VLGC market. The combination of BW LPG and Aurora LPG will create a stronger player in the challenging environment in our industry. The combined entity will have a significant, modern and high quality fleet, a strong platform and the financial resources required to continue its operations through this challenging period,” said Martin Ackermann, CEO of BW LPG.