Royal Boskalis springs share buyback with SAAM SMIT cash
Royal Boskalis Westminster plans to spend more than half of the money from the sale of its stake in SAAM SMIT Towage to repurchase its own stock.
Boskalis appoints new CFO from withinBoskalis yesterday announced plans to exit its position in the joint venture set up in 2014.
It told investors today it expects to collect €175m from the sale, with €100m earmarked for the buyback.
At present trading levels, Boskalis would be able to acquire around 4.4 million shares, which works out at more than 3.3% of the company, a statement said.
As TradeWinds reported yesterday, investor response to the sale was mixed.
While the divestment of a non-core activity was seen as positive, the announcement also waned of an impairment on the investment.
Boskalis shares climbed 1.78% to €22.78 each at the time of writing Tuesday after the buyback was revealed.
HAL Investments is the largest shareholder in the company, ahead of Sprucegrove Investment Management and Oppenheimerfunds, according to Bloomberg.
