Grimaldi Compagnia di Navigazione SpA, mother company of the Grimaldi Group, announced today a mandatory public offer to acquire shares of Minoan Lines S.A. (hereinafter referred as "Minoan Lines"), a shipping company listed on the Athens Stock Exchange….
Grimaldi Compagnia di Navigazione SpA, mother company of the Grimaldi Group, announced today a mandatory public offer to acquire shares of Minoan Lines S.A. (hereinafter referred as "Minoan Lines"), a shipping company listed on the Athens Stock Exchange.
Grimaldi Compagnia di Navigazione S.p.A.(hereinafter referred as "Grimaldi Group") will offer 5.29 Euros per each Minoan share. The offer values Minoan Lines at 375,198,540 Euros and represents a 18.08% premium on the average weighed value of the Minoan shares during the last six months of trading. The offer price equals the highest price per share paid by Grimaldi Group companies for the shares in Minoan within the past twelve months. The offer became mandatory on Friday the 3rd of October when Grimaldi Group purchased 0.38% of Minoan Lines shares paying 4.91 Euros per share average. Through this last purchase, the Grimaldi Group increased its holding in Minoan to 33.36% of the shared capital and voting rights, so overtaking the public offer mandatory limit of 1/3 of the shares. The offer will be conditional to approvals from the Hellenic Capital Market Commission. NBGI (National Bank of Greece Group) acts as Corporate Finance Advisor to the Grimaldi Group. Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A. acts as Mandated Lead Arranger and financial advisor. Minoan Lines is based in Heraklion (Crete), it operates a fleet of six modern Cruise Ferry vessels on the routes linking the Greek mainland and Crete, as well as between Italy and Greece. In 2007, Minoan Lines transported 1.57 million passengers, 283,000 cars and 153,000 trailers.
Emanuele Grimaldi, joint managing director of the Grimaldi Group and president of Minoan said: "The offer on Minoan Lines is part of our industrial strategy to build a solid Pan-European alliance of major brands operating in the transport by sea of passengers and freight. Such an alliance – continued Mr. Grimaldi – is aimed at expanding our Motorways of the Sea network that already comprises Grimaldi Lines (operating Mediterranean routes) and Finnlines (operating in the North and Baltic Sea). We lookforward to extending its full scope to Minoan Lines too."
"If the offer is successful – underlined Mr Grimaldi – Minoan Lines will become a company part of the Grimaldi Group but it will indeed remain a truly great Greek company, managed by Greek people, with solid roots and headquarters in Heraklion, Crete. I’ve been the proud President of Minoan Lines for only 4 months. A short period, but long enough to appreciate the excellent professional skills of the Minoan staff ashore and at sea, as well as of the management, who will stay at the helm of the company. In our plans, Minoan Lines will remain listed on the Athens stock exchange as well as Finnlines, of which Grimaldi holds a 64% shareholding, has remained listed on the Helsinki bourse." Mr. Grimaldi concluded by saying that: "There is no doubt that thanks to the economies of scale, Grimaldi and Minoan Lines together can substantially increase the level of services provided to costumers, by offering higher quality services at a competitive price. In order to achieve this ambitious target, we plan to push forward substantial investments to enhance the services in the Adriatic and between Piraeus and Heraklion."
One of the leading Ro/Ro operators in the world, the Grimaldi Group is privately held by the Grimaldi family. It is headquartered in Naples, Italy, and operates a fleet of 126 ships, 84 of which are owned, with a staff of 8,000 people. In 2007, the Grimaldi Group recorded a 2.5 billion Euros turnover, transported 2.4 million passengers, 2.8 million cars and 1.8 million trucks, trailers and containers. The Group’s investment plan comprises 30 new ships worth 2.2 billion Euros to be delivered by 2011.
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