Fincantieri Urged to Increase Vard Offer

Italian shipbuilder and ship designer Fincantieri has been asked to revise its offer for Norwegian Vard Holdings Limited (VARD) as the minority shareholders of Vard “are not happy with the offer,” according to Securities Investors Association (Singapore).

Fincantieri, the current majority shareholder of Vard, with 55.63% of the shares at the time of the offer, has made an offer of USD 0.24 per share.

Namely, minority shareholders said that the offer came at a time when the price of share was improving. Although the IFA report has deemed it as fair and reasonable as it is above the price of the share trading over the past 1 year, the shareholders feel there is room for improvement on the price.

“Shareholders are also concerned about the reduction in threshold from 90% to over 50% – thus making the offer unconditional,” SIAS informed.

Vard earlier won a contract to build a new cruise liner which pushed the current share price to above the offer price and is now trading above USD 0.24.

Additionally, there is talk in the market that many shareholders who had previously tendered their shares may withdraw, as the current trading price is above offer price.