Billionaire Fredriksen to Make Mandatory Bid for Flex LNG

2014-10-26

Billionaire John Fredriksen increased his share in liquefied natural-gas carrier Flex LNG (FLNG) Ltd. to 43.3 percent, triggering a mandatory offer for the 1 billion-krone ($151 million) company.

Fredriksen bought 12.7 million shares in the company at 7.75 kroner apiece through Geveran Trading Co. Ltd., London-based Flex LNG said in a statement. Geveran will make a mandatory offer for the remaining shares of the Oslo-listed company within four weeks, it said.

Flex LNG rose as much as 5.2 percent to 8.1 kroner, trading 3.1 percent higher at 7.9 kroner as of 10:04 a.m. in Oslo.

The takeover bid for Flex LNG, which is expecting delivery of its two first liquefied natural gas carriers at the start of 2017, comes after the Norwegian-born billionaire last month sold more than 80 percent of his shares in shipper Golar LNG Ltd. (GLNG)

Fredriksen recently had a falling out with his long-time adviser, Tor Olav Troeim, the chairman of Golar.

Fredriksen’s Geveran first bought shares in Flex LNG in Sept. 2013, increasing its stake most recently last month to 32 percent of the company.

The offer price has to at least match the highest price that the bidder has paid for the shares in the prior six months or at least be the same as the market price at the time the transaction was triggered.

Source from : Bloomberg

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