EnTrust / Belships M&A

2024’s final major shipping M&A announcement came just before the holidays, with affiliates of US-based fund manager EnTrust Global offering NOK 20.50 per share to acquire dry bulk owner and operator Belships ASA.

In the press release announcing the deal, Belships noted that the NOK 20.50 purchase price was at a premium of:

• 29% to the share price the day prior to the offer

• 17% to the 30 days’ dividend adjusted, volume weighted average share price

Not highlighted in the press release, the NOK 20.50 share price is also at a discount of:

• 22% to the all-time high share price (May 2024)

• 18% to the estimated net asset value (“NAV”) of the company

Given these discounts, the NOK 20.50 purchase price suggests Belships insiders may have reservations about the dry bulk sector’s outlook—locking in their gains, even at a discount, rather than risking a downturn.

This isn’t the first time Belships’ controlling shareholder Frode Teigen has divested a dry bulk shipping company. In 2006, the Teigen family sold its stake in Thoresen Thai Agencies (TTA) just before freight rates collapsed in the 2008 Great Recession.

We’ll have to wait and see whether the move to sell Belships proves equally prescient.