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(12-03-2013, 10:37 AM)KopiKat Wrote: [ -> ]A substantial shareholder, Oz Parties, continues to sell down their holdings. Latest is 6.25% -> 5.8%. I won't be very surprised if they accept the $1.22 Offer for their balance stake before the Offer closes tomorrow.

As expected, Oz has tendered their acceptance of the Offer (see SGX Annc), but for 50Mil shares. They also sold 5.15Mil shares in the open market yesterday. Balance = 13,316,000, still a lot to depress the price.... plus no more announcement required since their holdings has dropped below 5%..

Oz parties tendered 50mil shares to Fincantieri.
Left 13.3mil shares

Following the Transactions, as at 12 March 2013, the OZ Parties and their concert parties,
owned, controlled or had agreed to acquire an aggregate of 13,316,000 SOP Shares,
representing approximately 1.13% of the total number of SOP Shares.

(13-03-2013, 02:00 PM)KopiKat Wrote: [ -> ]

(12-03-2013, 10:37 AM)KopiKat Wrote: [ -> ]A substantial shareholder, Oz Parties, continues to sell down their holdings. Latest is 6.25% -> 5.8%. I won't be very surprised if they accept the $1.22 Offer for their balance stake before the Offer closes tomorrow.

As expected, Oz has tendered their acceptance of the Offer (see SGX Annc), but for 50Mil shares. They also sold 5.15Mil shares in the open market yesterday. Balance = 13,316,000, still a lot to depress the price.... plus no more announcement required since their holdings has dropped below 5%..

Offer closed, Fincantieri ended up with 55.63%. Total acceptance = 57,620,268 shares ie. another 7.62Mil besides the 50Mil from Oz.

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One last disclosure by Oz on 14-Mar as the settlement of their acceptance had not yet taken place. On 13-Mar, they sold another 1,637,000, leaving a balance of 11,679,000 (0.99%).

Comments : I was hopeful they'd be keeping their balance 1.13% stake for longer term hold. Now, it doesn't seem to be the case. Any potential share price rise will likely be delayed till they clear their entire stake, assuming there's enough demand out there to soak up all the selling... May take a few weeks, if so... Good riddance to them then...

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Extracts from OCBC report dated 15-Mar from remisiers.org,

WHAT’S NEXT AFTER THE OFFER CLOSING

- Fincantieri now owns 56% of STX OSV
- Och-Ziff has sold off almost all its stake
- Better clarity going forward

4.9% valid acceptances received
At the close of its mandatory offer for STX OSV shares on 13 Mar 2013, Fincantieri received only 4.88% valid acceptances, bringing its total shareholdings to 55.63% (pre-offer: 50.75%). The low acceptance level is unsurprising given that the Board of Directors has recommended shareholders to reject Fincantieri's offer as it is not compelling enough.

Och-Ziff has disposed off its shares
According to disclosures announced in SGX, funds affiliated with hedge fund Och-Ziff has aggressively cut their shareholding in STX OSV after the announcement of the offer (on 21 Dec 2012) such that they controlled only 1.13% of STX OSV as of 13 Mar 2013, down from 12% pre-announcement. Unlike traditional long-only funds, Och-Ziff's primary investment strategies include event-driven investing which attempts to realize gain from corporate events such as spin-offs and other corporate restructurings. With Och-Ziff disposing off its investment in STX OSV, we believe much of the share overhang would have been removed going forward.

Rebranding and board changes
Meanwhile, STX OSV announced that it will be rebranded as VARD. A proposal for a new name for the group holding company, STX OSV Holdings Limited, will be formally tabled for resolution at the upcoming AGM in Apr 2013. Separately, three STX-nominated directors, including the Chairman, have resigned from the board. We expect Fincantieri to appoint three new members to replace the outgoing directors.

Maintain BUY
With the mandatory offer now over, we believe there will be better clarity going forward in terms of corporate identity, board leadership and senior management. Fincantieri has stated that it has no intention to (i) introduce any major changes to STX OSV, (ii) re-deploy the fixed assets or (iii) discontinue the employment of its employees. Maintain BUY with unchanged S$1.52 fair value estimate.

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Will stop posting updates as there's little interest.. For those vested, Own time, Own target (Price), Carry on... Good Luck!

The Straits Times
www.straitstimes.com
Published on Apr 24, 2013
Companies
STX OSV renamed Vard and will stay on SGX
Shareholders vote for change; new name on SGX board from Monday

By Chia Yan Min

THE newly named shipbuilder Vard - previously called STX OSV - will stay listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX), said chief executive Roy Reite yesterday.

Mr Reite noted that while the Norwegian-based firm secures a large proportion of its orders from Europe, it has also won a number in Asia.

"It is natural for us to stay in Singapore because of the knowledge of the oil and gas industry... Being listed in Singapore also has its advantages compared with other places where investors are less familiar with the offshore industry," he added.

Mr Reite said the company, which has yards in Romania, Vietnam and Brazil, has no specific plans for a secondary listing on another bourse.

The name change followed corporate moves that began last December when STX Europe, part of South Korea's STX Group, sold its 50.75 per cent stake in Singapore-listed STX OSV to Italian state-owned ship-builder Fincantieri for $730.6 million.

The Italian company offered remaining investors $1.22 a share for their STX OSV holdings, but accumulated only a further 4.88per cent by the time the offer period closed on March 13.

Yesterday, shareholders voted to change the company's name to Vard.

The name comes from the Norwegian word "varde", which are small stone towers in Norwegian waters that ships relied on as ancient navigational markers.

The counter's name on the SGX board will change on Monday.

Mr Fabrizio Palermo, non-executive director of Vard and chief financial officer of Fincantieri, said Vard is an "interesting investment" for the Italian shipbuilder.

"The investment has allowed us to further diversify into higher value-added segments, and complements our current portfolio... This diversification will help us in sustaining the company through different economic cycles," he said.

chiaym@sph.com.sg

I noticed that one of the top 20 shareholders of VARD is "THE CENTRAL DEPOSITORY PTE LIMITED". It is pretty strange to me and does any forumers know what this means. Is someone using CDP as a nominee account?

http://www.vard.com/Reports/VARD_Annual_...202012.pdf

Didn't see any SGX Annc on this news dated 23-Apr-13,

France Telecom Marine to acquire a new cable-ship, the Pierre de Fermat, and diversify its activities to include renewable energy

Extracts,

France Telecom Marine has commissioned VARD, one of the world's leaders in the sector, for the construction of the vessel. The cable-ship, which will be operational from the summer of 2014, ...

[Image: marine.gif]

main characteristics of the Pierre de Fermat:
length overall 100.1 m
breadth 21.5 m
loaded draft 7.1 m
maximum speed 15.5 knots
bollard pull 80 T
main engines 4 x 2250 kWe & 1 x 715 kWe
accommodation 80 pers.
deadweight tons 4,000 T
cable deadweight 2,300 T
class Bureau Veritas ICE-IC AUT-IMS DP2

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Found an old SGX Annc dated 2-Oct-12. Perhaps it's this one as no mention of customer name and I was thinking delivery seems tight if it's a new contract just secured.

STX OSV SECURES CONTRACT FOR ONE CABLE LAYING VESSEL

(07-06-2013, 08:31 PM)felixleong Wrote: [ -> ]http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/busi...01368.html

The shipping unit of South Korea's troubled STX shipbuilding group filed for court receivership on Friday owing to mounting debts and losses caused by a global economic slump.

PHOTOS

This file photo shows workers riding past a ship at the Saint-Nazaire shipyard in western France. The shipping unit of South Korea's troubled STX shipbuilding group filed for court receivership on Friday owing to mounting debts and losses caused by a global economic slump. (AFP/Alain Jocard)

Enlarge
Caption

SEOUL: The shipping unit of South Korea's troubled STX shipbuilding group filed for court receivership on Friday owing to mounting debts and losses caused by a global economic slump.

The move came after the state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) said it would not use its its private equity fund to buy STX Pan Ocean, one of the country's three largest bulk carriers.

STX Corp., the group's holding company, has a 27.4 percent stake in STX Pan Ocean, while KDB controls 14.99 percent. The shipper's total debt is estimated at around 4.4 trillion won ($3.9 billion).

The STX group, which has 11 subsidiaries, has been reeling under mounting debt after being hit by a global downturn in the shipbuilding and shipping sectors.

More than one trillion won in corporate debt matures this year, including 500 billion won in May alone.

Creditors have already provided 600 billion won to the group's shipbuilding unit, STX Offshore and Shipbuilding, to help it repay maturing bonds and operate normally.

The group wants a massive liquidity injection for other subsidiaries to avert bankruptcy in exchange for a voluntary restructuring.

Last month, creditors pumped 900 billion won into STX Corp and STX Offshore and Shipbuilding but they have yet to agree on loans for STX Heavy Industries and STX Engine.

"We will go ahead with the injection of liquidity into other units whose financial pinch may get worse due to the court receivership," KDB executive director Ryu Heui-Kyoung told reporters.

The STX group pledged late last year to raise 2.5 trillion won by selling domestic and overseas assets, and has since raised 1.13 trillion won but details of the sale of its European assets have not been disclosed.

These include shipbuilders STX Finland and STX France, which is two-thirds owned by STX Europe, a subsidiary of STX Shipbuilding. The other third of STX France is owned by the French state.

STX France operates two shipyards, one in Saint-Nazaire and the one in Lorient, while the Finnish operations include three shipyards in Turku, Rauma and Helsinki.

In December, the Saint-Nazaire yard, which has struggled to secure major new orders in recent years, won a lifeline with a billion-euro deal to build a luxury liner for Miami-based Royal Caribbean International.

The yard employs 2,100 people and provides work for another 4,000 sub-contractors.

Should have no effect on Vard since STX sold its stake to the Italians. Unless you are speculating Vard trying to buy up its former parent ship building arm in Europe !

(Not Vested)

I see, thanks man
think i posted wrong place, should be at stx pan ocean thread, thanks mod for moving it for me

A pleasant surprise for me as it's one of the rare stocks which is moving against the tide in the past week when STI is facing a battering. Those who'd bought at the recent lows of $1.0x must be happy...

Q113 (Mar) results, which was released on 14-May, is giving me hope that their biz may have returned to an upcycle. Let's see what Q213 (Jun) results will be like...

<Vested - but have been selling some to switch to other stocks>

DBS report on recent profit guidance.