FINCANTIERI Oil & Gas announced it will be extending the closing date for its buyout offer for shipbuilder Vard Holdings to 5:30pm on Aug 24 from Aug 8.

Vard had announced earlier on Wednesday, before the market opened, that trading in its shares will be suspended immediately after the exit offer closes.

Shareholders who have accepted the exit offer are not required to take any action, the firm - a subsidiary of Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri - said in a press statement during the midday trading break.

As at 5pm on Aug 7, the total number of shares owned, controlled or agreed to be acquired by the offeror and parties deemed to be acting in concert with it amounted to an aggregate of some 1.09 billion shares, representing 92.57 per cent of the total number of shares.

Its shareholders earlier in July approved its delisting, which is estimated to take place about two to three weeks after the closing of Fincantieri's 25 Singapore cents per share offer.

Vard saw 1.2 million shares traded as of 1:45pm on Wednesday with its price unchanged at 25 Singapore cents.