Competition authorities in both Singapore and the United States opposed Wilhelmsen Group’s billion krone acquisition of Drew Marine Group. Now the companies are dropping the entire merger.
The reason for the stop of the acquisition is that the US authorities, through the Federal Trade Commission competition authority, have agreed in their desire to block the acquisition, E24 writes.
– “We disagree with the views of US competition authorities. This would have been an important strategic investment for the Group, which we believe would have led to better services and better prices for our customers. We are therefore disappointed that we will not be able to implement this merger,” said Thomas Wilhelmsen, CEO, in a statement.
The Singapore Competition Authority pointed out in May that trade will lead to significantly less competition in the market for the supply of water purifying chemicals.
The parties have agreed that Wilhelmsen will pay Drew Marine a termination fee of $20 million, or 164 million NOK at today’s rate. Wilhelmsen reports this in the accounts for the second quarter.
© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today