Ocean Network Express (ONE), which is part of a consortium bidding for Atlas Corp., owner of Seaspan Corp., has made an update on the planned acquisition.
The shipping line said Poseidon Acquisition Corp — composed of David L. Sokol, chairman of the board of Atlas Corp., certain affiliates of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, the Washington family, and ONE — continues discussions to acquire all common shares of Atlas Corp not controlled by consortium members.
Meaningful progress in acquisition talks
"ONE, together with partners in the Consortium, have jointly proposed to acquire all the outstanding common shares of Atlas Corp. on August 4th," ONE said in its latest update about the acquisition.
"The consortium believes it has made meaningful progress in its discussions with the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Atlas as announced by Poseidon Acquisition Corp, who is acting on behalf of the consortium," it added.
Separately, Poseidon announced that it offered to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Atlas that the members of the Consortium do not already own or control for US$15.50 per share in cash, plus payment of all ordinary course third-quarter and fourth-quarter 2022 dividends regardless of the timing of any closing.
So far, Consortium members Fairfax, Washington, and Sokol, together control about 68% of the common shares of Atlas.
"There is no binding agreement with respect to the Proposed Transaction, and negotiations remain subject to significant contingencies, including completion of due diligence by the Consortium (expected to be
commenced promptly), the negotiation and execution of a mutually acceptable definitive agreement, and
confirmation and documentation of fully committed financing," Poseidon said.
It added that the closing of the Proposed Transaction if a definitive agreement is reached, would be contingent upon the approval of holders of a majority of the Atlas common shares not owned by Consortium members and the satisfaction of additional mutually acceptable closing conditions to be contained in a definitive agreement.
"The Consortium does not expect to make any further announcements or updates unless and until a definitive agreement is executed or discussions with the Special Committee are terminated ," Poseidon Acquisition Corp said.
Atlas Corp is a global asset management company, while Seaspan — its wholly-owned subsidiary — is the world's largest independent charter owner and manager of containerships.
Seaspan's owned and operated fleet consists of 132 vessels with a total capacity of 1.15 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
It owns and operates ships of every size, from 2,500 to 24,000 TEUs. It listed at least 17 charterers including the world's six largest container lines – CMA CGM, Cosco, Hapag-Lloyd, ONE, and Maersk.
The list also includes ZIM, OOCL, PIL, Yang Ming, and K-LINE among others.
