It has only done so, however, with Dockwise extracting what can be described as maximum financial value from the transaction. Since Boskalis’ announced its intentions on 26 November 2012, shares of Oslo-traded Dockwise jumped from NOK74.5 to NOK137.
This follows on from Dockwise responding to Boskalis’s initial offer of €682m by saying that this amounted to an attempt to acquire it at an artificially depressed price. It pointed out that Dockwise was about to reap the benefits of major investments – the acquisition of rival Fairstar and construction of the Vanguard heavy lift vessel, the world’s largest – and to profit from rising demand for the movement of drilling rigs and other large cargo components. It further noted that its investors had underwritten rights issues twice since 2010 as part of building a future growth strategy.
Accordingly, the ball was bounced back into Boskalis’s court and at the beginning of February Boskalis raised its bid from the previous level of €17.20 per share to €18.50 per share, an offer that obtained the unanimous support of the Dockwise board of directors and the support of over 90% of the company’s shareholders.
Aside from the financial machinations, however, the deal can be seen as a win: win. The strategic merits of the merger of the two organisations were acknowledged early on by Dockwise and on acceptance of the second Boskalis offer, Dockwise again reiterated its belief that the new Combination fits with its strategy of expanding in the offshore transport and installation market as well as the logistics management areas of its business.
There are undoubtedly strong synergies that can be leveraged as a result of the merger – not least in the global port and terminal market where both parties have traditionally been active. Potential, for example, has been identified for Dockwise vessels to provide competitive edge in conjunction with dredging projects as well as in offshore and salvage projects.
Fundamentally, unifying both companies’ project management and engineering expertise, as well as capitalising on their already similar cultures, is expected to generate a new entity which is well placed not only to open new markets but to build a stronger position in existing markets as new competition, from China in particular, comes into play.
