Eversendai to buy liftboat operator Vahana

Malaysia’s engineering company Eversendai has decided to acquire a 100 per cent equity interest in service provider Vahana Offshore and its subsidiaries for a purchase consideration price of RM235 million ($54.8 million).

Eversendai said on Wednesday that the price would be fully satisfied via the issuance of 770,491,803 new redeemable convertible preference shares (RCPS) in Eversendai at an issue price of RM0.305 after Eversendai had entered into a conditional share sale agreement with Vahana Offshore on 30 June 2020.

The RCPS will have a tenure of 10 years with a cumulative preferential dividend of 3 per cent per annum, payable only upon Vahana achieving a consolidated net profit after tax for the relevant financial year.

The RCPS is convertible into Eversendai ordinary shares at a conversion ratio of 2 RCPS to 1 ordinary share equivalent to an implied conversion price of RM0.61. The RCPS will not be listed, quoted and traded on Bursa Securities or any other stock exchange.

Vahana and its subsidiaries are principally involved in ownership, operations, chartering and management of self-propelled jack-up barges/liftboats.

The liftboats are used for maintenance, workover, well-service activities, hook-up, commissioning and decommissioning of offshore platforms in the oil and gas industry.

The liftboats could also be used for the installation and maintenance in the offshore wind renewable energy sector.

Currently, Vahana owns two liftboats, Vahana Aryan and Vahana Arjun.

Vahana has secured a long-term time charter contract for Vahana Aryan with Zamil Offshore for Saudi Aramco and has also secured a similar contract with Zamil Offshore for Vahana Arjun.

Vahana Arjun is currently under construction and is targeted to be completed by the end of June 2021.

Tan Sri Dato’ A K Nathan, Executive Chairman and Group Managing Director of Eversendai Corporation Berhad, believes that the proposed acquisition will provide Eversendai with the opportunity to own and operate Vahana Aryan and Vahana Arjun providing the enlarged Eversendai group with an additional source of consistent recurring income to enhance its revenue and profits.

The proposed acquisition will also resolve the existing cross borrowings and related party transactions involving Vahana and Eversendai.