DHT Rejects Frontline Bid
DHT Holdings has announced that its Board of Directors has unanimously rejected rival Frontline’s unsolicited take-over bid.
The non-binding, highly conditional proposal called for the acquisition of all of the outstanding shares of common stock in DHT for a per-share consideration of 0.725 Frontline shares.
After a comprehensive review, conducted in consultation with its financial and legal advisors, the DHT Board concluded that the Frontline proposal is “wholly inadequate” and not in the best interests of DHT or its shareholders.
“We believe that Frontline’s proposal substantially undervalues our company and represents an opportunistic attempt to acquire DHT at a low point in the cycle,” said Erik Lind, Chairman of DHT. “We are confident that DHT will generate significantly more value to shareholders as an independent company than the prospects afforded by this proposal.”
Frontline has one of the world’s largest fleets of VLCC and Suezmax tankers. A merger with DHT would have given Frontline a combined fleet of around 90 tankers and create the largest public tanker company by fleet size and trading liquidity.