Boskalis sells Fugro shares

Boskalis Westminster has sold all of its remaining certificates of shares in geotechnical and subsea engineering company Fugro.

Boskalis said the reduction had been accomplished through a successful accelerated bookbuild in which 7,932,532 (9.38%) shares were placed with institutional investors at €14.50 per share. The bookbuild began on 28 February, 2017, after the closing of the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange.

At the time of the accelerated bookbuild in December 2016, Boskalis entered into a 90-day lock-up with the joint bookrunners –  Kempen & Co and Goldman Sachs International – which agreed to waive that lock-up with respect to the shares sold in this transaction.

In early December, Boskalis announced it had reduced its holding to 24.9%, and then later in the month it said its holding was down to 9.38%.

At that time, Boskalis CEO Peter Berdowski said, “During the presentation of the half year results, we indicated that we would reconsider our position in Fugro. Despite our conviction that parts of Fugro fit very well with Boskalis, we recently decided to sell down our Fugro holding in steps.

“This decision is on the one hand based on the uncertain market conditions which continue to prevail much longer than anticipated, and on the other hand also the position of the Fugro management.”

He added, “Through the gradual sell down, we have taken away uncertainty in our own share and we expect to create more value for our shareholders going forward.”

Back in January 2015, Boskalis increased its stake in Fugro to 20.01%, a move that followed the acquisition of a 15% stake in the company in November 2014.

In March 2015, it increased its stake to 25.1%, saying then that this was not a step towards making an offer.