Austrian marine crane manufacturers Palfinger Marine announced today it has officially submitted an offer to acquire the TTS Group, a Norwegian provider of cranes and offshore access systems.
According to the TTS Group, Oslo Børs had approved the offer for the acquisition of shares in TTS Group by Palfinger Marine, as the takeover supervisory authority.
“Palfinger aims to acquire 100% of the TTS shares. Apart from the necessary anti-trust approvals, the offer is also subject to the condition that at least 90% of all the shares in TTS be offered to the PALFINGER Group”, the company informed in a statement.
According to Palfinger, the offer stands at NOK 5.60 (£0.49) per share and the offer period will last until August 12.
Offshore Post reports, TTS had previously announced that the board had unanimously recommended that shareholders accept the offer for the acquisition of shares, which is subject to an extension.
Palfinger’s intention to acquire the company for a share price identical to the official offer had been announced in June.
The intended acquisition is expected to be finalised in the fourth quarter of the year, subject to the positive outcome of the due diligence audit and the official approvals.
The final deadline for the acquisition is January 2017.
TTS Takeover Could Place Palfinger Among Top Suppliers
According to Palfinger’s CEO Herbert Ortner, the potential acquisition of TTS with the already completed acquisition of Harding would place the company among the top three ship equipment suppliers.
“In the future, we want to be a one-stop shop, internationally offering all maritime customer industries competitive products and services,” Ortner said in June.
With this acquisition, he added, Palfinger Marine could contribute around one-third to the revenue of the Palfinger Group from 2017 onwards, “hence becoming the Palfinger Group’s second strong mainstay”.
