French container shipping firm CMA CGM will delist its share in Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) from the main board of Singapore Exchange Securities Trading (SGX-ST) after it crossed the 90% ownership threshold in the company.
After its all-cash voluntary conditional general offer for NOL, which was launched in the first week of this month, CMA CGM now owns 2,361,044,044 shares, representing nearly 90.68% of NOL’s share capital.
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CMA CGM noted that with the public float of NOL shares now falling below the minimum threshold of 10%, the SGX-ST may suspend the trading of NOL shares at the close of the offer.
In case of a trading suspension, CMA CGM does not intend to take steps for the suspension to be lifted.
CMA CGM also stated that it would exercise its right of compulsory acquisition to acquire all NOL shares held by shareholders who have not accepted the offer, in accordance with relevant laws in Singapore.
CMA CGM has offered NOL shareholders a price of S$1.30 ($0.96) per NOL share in cash.
Founded and led by Jacques Saadé, CMA CGM currently has 450 vessels operating at more than 400 ports in the world, across all continents.
NOL, through its container shipping arm APL, currently provides container shipping and terminal services, as well as intermodal across the globe.
Once completed, the merged entity will result in a combined turnover of $22bn and a fleet size of 563 vessels.
