Luxembourg-based investment firm JACCAR Holdings has made a takeover bid for French offshore vessel owner Bourbon.
JACCAR, the private, maritime sector-focused, investment company of Jacques de Chateauvieux, Bourbon’s chairman, already directly owns 26.2% of the share capital of Bourbon, representing 27.3% of the voting rights.
Its offer, of €24 per share, values Bourbon at US$2.5 billion and represents a premium of 19%, compared with the volume-weighted average of the last 100 trading days, and 24%, compared with the closing price on the day preceding the announcement.
Bourbon has about 485 vessels, which service offshore oil and gas platforms as well as wind farms in 45 countries.
The fleet comprises:
JACCAR said its offer is expected to be filed with the French financial markets authority in April, after the board of directors of Bourbon had chance to offer its view.
As well as being the main shareholder of Bourbon, JACCAR is the main shareholder in Greenship Bulk, Greenship Gas, and Sapmer Holdings, as well as a reference shareholder of the Chinese shipyard Sinopacific Shipbuilding.
Bourbon’s shares rose 23% following the offer, the biggest one-day gain since October 1998, to close at 23.845 euros. Trading volumes were more than 20X the three-month daily average.
Bourbon was founded in 1948 as Sucreries de Bourbon, a sugar group on Reunion Island, in the Indian Ocean. Groupe Bourbon produced sugar and rum, mainly for export to metropolitan France.
In 1989, the firm diversified into food-processing business, retail, and then marine services. In 2000, Groupe Bourbon sold its "milk and fruit juices" business, to focus on marine services and, particularly, marine services to offshore oilfields.
In 2013, Bourbon announced plans to invest €500 million in new vessels.
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