More than half of the shareholders of Gulf Marine Services have rejected the takeover bid for the company by jack-up vessels provider Seafox.
The company’s board received a letter of intent from shareholder Haasco on 20 May stating it has “no current intention to accept any offer of 10 pence per share, or $0.09 per share if higher”.
Haasco, a UK accountancy outfit, holds voting rights on 550,000 shares, equal to 0.16% of the company’s issued share capital.
The board of Gulf Marine Services said as a result it received letters from 15 shareholders, collectively holding 52.24% of the company’s issued share capital, indicating that they have “no current intention” to accept any offer on the terms of the Seafox proposal.
The 15 shareholders include Aberforth Partners, which owns 19.92% of the company’s issued share capital and Mazrui Investments, which owns 12.65% of the company’s issued share capital.
Gulf Marine Services rejected Seafox’s takeover bid earlier this month, claiming it has strengthened its board and secured new business despite making an adjusted $20m loss last year.
Seafox had responded to the board’s rejection by asking shareholders to support its proposal and emphasised the impact of oil demand reduction that it said would likely lead to delays and cancellation of contract awards.
In its 2019 financial year results Gulf Marine Services made an adjusted loss of $20m in 2019, compared with an adjusted loss of just over $5m the previous year.