The Belgium-based CMB.TECH NV has completed the stock-for stock merger between Golden Ocean Group Limited and CMB.TECH Bermuda, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CMB.TECH, with CMB.TECH Bermuda Ltd. as the surviving company, and with CMB.TECH as the issuer of the merger consideration shares, according to a press release issued by CMB.TECH.
The merger, which received approval from 92.72% of Golden Ocean shareholders at a special general meeting on August 19, resulted in CMB.TECH issuing 95,952,934 new ordinary shares by means of a capital increase by contribution in kind.
“These shares will be delivered to former holders of Golden Ocean shares as merger consideration at the exchange ratio of 0.95 ordinary shares of CMB.TECH for each common share of Golden Ocean (subject to rounding), in accordance with the merger agreement,” CMB.TECH said yesterday in its release.
The newly issued CMB.TECH shares began trading Wednesday on Euronext Brussels, the New York Stock Exchange, and Euronext Oslo Børs, where CMB.TECH established a secondary listing of its shares. CMB.TECH’s ordinary shares (including the newly issued shares) began trading Wednesday on Euronext Oslo.
According to CMB.TECH, the merger features now a combined diversified fleet of around 250 vessels, including dry bulk vessels, crude oil tankers, chemical tankers, container ships, offshore wind vessels and port vessels.
The fleet has a reported fair market value of approximately $11.1bn and an average age of 6.1 years.
The company stated that more than 80 vessels in the combined diversified fleet are hydrogen- and ammonia-ready. CMB.TECH also reported a contract backlog of approximately $3.0bn.
Alexander Saverys, CEO of CMB.TECH, commented: “Today, we are delighted to close the merger between CMB.TECH and Golden Ocean. In less than 18 months, we have transformed a pure play crude oil tanker company into a large and leading diversified and future-proof maritime group.
“As we welcome the Golden Ocean team and fleet to the CMB.TECH family, we look forward to creating value for all our stakeholders with our modern fleet of more than 250 ships. 11 billion USD worth of assets, three public listings in New York, Brussels and Oslo, more than one third of our fleet ready to be powered by low carbon fuels, a contract backlog of 3 billion USD … and one goal: decarbonise today to navigate tomorrow.”
