CHAMP, Headland seek full acquisition of Miclyn Express Offshore

According to a regulatory filing, the two firms are offering to pay A$2.20 per share - representing a 20.8% premium on the three-month volume weighted average price. The offer price corresponds to the A$2.20 per share CHAMP and Headland paid back in April for an additional 8% stake.

Shares closed at A$2.14 on Friday after news of the offer broke, up 9% on the previous close.

The offer comes three months after CHAMP and Headland successfully pushed for the resignation of independent directors Neil Hamilton and George Venardos from the MEO board. Paul Kang, a senior partner at Headland, and Nat Childres, a managing director at CHAMP, were subsequently elected to act as chairman of the board on a rotating basis.

MEO provides service vessels to the expanding offshore oil and gas industry across South East Asia, Australia and the Middle East. The company charters a diverse range of service vessels, crew and utility vessels, tugs, barges and coastal survey vessels.

CHAMP first acquired a stake in MEO last September for A$199 million from Macquarie Capital, the investment banking arm of Macquarie Group. The firm paid A$2.15 per share in cash, plus a further A$0.10 per share conditional on certain earnings milestones being achieved.

Headland, meanwhile, bought its initial stake in August 2011, for $141 million, through its $1.38 billion Headland Private Equity Fund 6.

"It's still an extremely fragmented industry," Kang told AVCJ in July. "Miclyn is one of few players we felt ticked a lot of boxes - regional footprint, professionally managed, and then exceptional financial and operating metrics in terms of profitability, which stems from high utilization rates."

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• Topics
• Buyout
• Buyouts
• Industrials
• Australasia
• energy
• Australia
• Commodities
• CHAMP Private Equity
• Headland Capital Partners
• buyout