Around three and a half months after the announcement, MSC is getting serious: the shipping company Clasquin is to be taken over. Now there is a concrete offer for the share purchase.
Following the announcement at the beginning of December, the MSC subsidiary SAS Shipping Agencies Services has submitted a “unilateral purchase commitment” for the acquisition of the shares in Clasquin held by shareholders Yves Revol and Olymp.
Their shares accounted for 42.06% of the share capital, as Clasquin confirmed. The offer price is €142.03 per share, which is reportedly a premium of 13.17%.
- a premium of 13.17% over the last closing price and 14.22% over the weighted average volume over 60 trading days prior to the announcement of the offer and
- 59.94% over the last closing price and 70.42% over the weighted average volume over 60 trading days prior to the announcement of the commencement of exclusive negotiations between Revol, Olymp and SAS.
Clasquin to be retained as a brand
The transaction, which is subject to approval by the relevant regulatory authorities, is expected to be completed by the end of the year. SAS then intends to submit a public tender offer to the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) for the remaining shares of Clasquin SA at the same price of €142.03 per share.
In terms of size, Clasquin is comparable to major medium-sized forwarding companies such as Leschaco, A. Hartrodt or Röhlig in Germany. Transport performance in 2022 amounted to around 264,000 TEU in sea freight and 69,000 t in air freight. Gross profit amounted to € 140 million and turnover to € 877 million.
The transaction is supported by Clasquin’s CEO and other key members of the management team, who have committed to tender their Clasquin shares in SAS’ public tender offer, representing in total approximately 8.5% of the share capital. The Group would continue its activities with its teams and under its existing brands (notably Clasquin, Timar, LCI-Clasquin Cargolution, CVL, Exaciel, Art Shipping International and Transports Petit).
