Fincantieri increases stake in Vard to 79.49%

A DIRECT wholly owned subsidiary of Italian shipbuilding group Fincantieri SpA on Friday announced that it has increased its stake, albeit slightly, in Vard Holdings Limited to 79.49 per cent.

This comes on the back of a Nov 13 offer at 25 Singapore cents for all shares in Vard by Fincantieri for the proposed voluntary delisting via an exit offer.

The shipbuilding group had held a 79.34 per cent stake in Vard through a subsidiary Fincantieri Oil & Gas SpA when it made the Nov 13 offer, up from 55.62 per cent last November when it launched its first offer at 24 Singapore cents per share to take Vard private.

As at 5 pm on Friday, the total number of shares owned, controlled or agreed to be acquired by Fincantieri amount to an aggregate of roughly 938 million shares, the group said in an filing with the Singapore Exchange after the market closed.

Vard shares closed S$0.005 or 2 per cent higher at S$0.255 on Friday.