Mitsui makes cash offer S$1.40 per share to Portek

JAKARTA: Mitsui & Co Ltd launches voluntary conditional cash offer for all issued and paid-up ordinary shares in the capital of Singapore-based Portek International Limited.Mitsui set the oofer price at S$1.40 per share, representing 6.1% premium over the last traded price of S$1.32 per share on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (SGX) on July 11 and 50.5% premium over average closing price of S$0.93 per share of the shares for the three-month period preceding the offer announcement. The shares of Portek are currently under the voluntary general cash offer at the price of S$1.20 per share by other company.Mitsui has received irrevocable undertakings from a founder of Portek (78,267,050 shares, approximately 51.3% of the shares) to accept the offer in respect of all the shares held by them prior to and up to the close of the offer, the management said in a press release on its website.Mitsui does not currently intend to preserve the listing status of Portek in the Mainboard of the SGX. However, Mitsui reserves the right to continue to examine and evaluate its options including maintaining the listing status of Portek taking into account market conditions and trading liquidity.Mitsui considers Portek's engineering capacity, terminal management, marketing expertise and hinterland traffic development to deliver productivity solutions to port operators which enable them to gear up quickly to meet demand surges in cargo traffic. Portek's ability to fast-track port modernization and transformation also allows port operators to significantly shorten necessary lead time for port loading and unloading. This expertise in port equipment and productivity solutions would allow Mitsui to improve and increase the productivity and efficiency of its logistic operations around the world. (NOM)