Nenaco seeks okay for ATS tender offer

MANILA, Philippines –  Negros Navigation Co. Inc. (Nenaco) has sought the permission of securities regulators to launch a tender offer for the remaining 6.8 percent held by minority shareholders in Aboitiz Transport System Corp. (ATS).

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, ATS said Nenaco is seeking to acquire 166.32 million common shares of ATS at P1.8813 apiece or a total purchase price of P312.91 million.

The move is pursuant to the mandatory tender offer rule which states that any entity or person who acquires at least 35 percent of a listed company must offer to buy out other shareholders at the same price agreed upon with the block seller.

Nenaco late last year completed the purchase of 2.279 billion common shares or 93.2 percent of the outstanding capital of ATS, for P4.28 billion.

The tender offer will run from Jan. 11 to Feb. 7, 2011. Nenaco’s purchase of ATS was funded with equity investments from China-Asean Marine BV, a Netherlands-incorporated company that is a wholly owned subsidiary of China-Asean Investment Cooperation Fund (CAF), a private equity fund sponsored by China Export-Import Bank.

ATS, the owner and operator of Superferry, 2GO, Cebu Ferries and Supercat, operates 18 vessels, a combination of ro-pax, fast ferries and freighters, and has 19 ports of call.

Nenaco, on the other hand, currently operates eight vessels and serves 13 ports of call.

Apart from being the most efficient operator of fast craft, the combined company will offer a full range of value-added logistics services. These 3PL (third-party logistics) services will be a boon to Philippine businesses involved in retail and the distribution of imported and locally produced products.

In 2009, Nenaco parent firm KGLI-NM Holdings Inc., a company owned by Kuwaiti Gulf Link Investments, offered to buy the Aboitiz family’s transport business. However, the deal did not materialize after the Kuwaiti group encountered financial difficulty due to the financial crisis.