Norway's DNB ASA picks up 7% in Ezra Holdings for just under S$25m

Norway's DNB ASA picks up 7% in Ezra Holdings for just under S$25m: "September 29, 2015:  
Norway’s largest financial services group – DNB ASA – has picked up a 7.04 per cent stake in the Singapore-listed provider of offshore marine services Ezra Holdings Limited for just under S$25 million ($17.49 million).

Complete details of the transaction are yet to emerge, but the off-market deal was routed through DNB Bank ASA, a subsidiary DNB ASA, which bought 207 million shares in the Singapore company on September 25.

Ezra, according to the bourse filing, said that DNB ASA did not have a stake in it prior to the September 25 transaction.

Ezra executives also said the company is yet to get information on who had sold the shares to DNB ASA.

As per existing date, only two entities could have sold 207 million shares to Norway’s largest financial services group. According to Bloomberg, the company’s largest shareholder is Lionel Lee Chye Tek, who has 23.19 per cent stake in it 681.43 million shares, followed by Aker Solutions with a 2.56 per cent stake or 75.38 million shares.

But the company in its annual report last year had said that Aker Global Employment Limited was its second-largest shareholder, with a 7.44 per cent stake. It is also not known if DNB ASA bought out several smaller Ezra shareholders for its 7.04 per cent stake in the company.

The transaction price translates to SS$0.12 per share, just under Ezra’s closing price of S$0.121 on Sept 25 (the day the transaction was recorded). Its shares closed at S$0.121 on Tuesday, up 4.3 per cent."



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