ATLAS Corp, the holding company that controls Hong Kong's Seaspan, said it received an offer from a shareholder group that includes former Berkshire Hathaway executive David Sokol and Toronto investment group Fairfax Financial Holdings.
The cash bid of $14.45 a share values Atlas at about $3.6 billion. It's a 25 per cent premium to Thursday's closing price, but it's also below where the shares traded as recently as April.
Fairfax is already the largest shareholder of Atlas with just under 50 per cent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The bidding group also includes affiliates of the Washington family, which owns 19 per cent of Atlas, and Sokol, who is the company's chairman.
The non-binding offer is conditional on approval by a committee of independent directors and by holders of a majority of the shares not owned by the buying group, Atlas said in a statement released after the market closed in New York.
Seaspan is the world's largest independent owner and operator of containerships, with a fleet of 134 ships as of the end of last year. It's Atlas's major asset, producing about 88 per cent of its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, according to a company presentation in March. Atlas also owns APR Energy, which leases mobile power units including gas and diesel generators.
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