- The Poseidon Acquisition Corp and Atlas Corp’s deal is the rare example of a large buyout.
- Poseidon’s sweetened US$15.50 per share offer seemed wrong to Albright which claims that it is worth between US$23 and US$29 per share.
- Members of the Poseidon consortium already own more than half of Atlas corp; they just need the approval of minority shareholders for the revised offer.
Atlas Corp will be taken private after accepting a sweetened US$10.9 billion acquisition offer from Poseidon Acquisition Corp, the companies announced on Tuesday (Nov 1), reported by CNA.
Buyout deal
The deal, which is expected to close in the first half of 2023, is a rare example of a large buyout.
Such transactions have dwindled in recent months as buyers have struggled to raise funds from banks and direct lenders, who have withdrawn from the acquisition finance market as a result of the impact of interest rate hikes.
Poseidon’s sweetened US$15.50 per share, all-cash offer represents a 34% premium to Atlas stock’s last close before deal talks were disclosed on August 4.
Poseidon said at the time that it wanted to buy it for $14.45 per share.
Atlas was trading at $15.28 in the afternoon on Tuesday.
Poseidon is an investment vehicle supported by Atlas’ current chairman, David Sokol, as well as affiliates of Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd, Singapore-based shipper Ocean Network Express, and others.
Disapproval
Members of the Poseidon consortium already own more than half of Atlas. The revised offer must be approved by a majority of minority shareholders, the companies said on Tuesday.
Albright Capital Management, which acquired a large minority stake in the company when APR Energy merged with Seaspan Corp to form Atlas in 2020, opposed the previous proposal.
On September 6, the investment firm claimed that Atlas was worth between US$23 and US$29 per share.
Albright did not respond to the request for comment.
Largest independent operator
According to Atlas’ website, Seaspan has a fleet of 127 container ships as of June 30, making it the largest independent owner and operator of such vessels in the world.
APR Energy owns and operates the world’s largest mobile gas turbine fleet, supplying power to large corporations and utilities.
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Source: CNA
