Dutch salvage company Smit International has given up its opposition to a take over by the Dutch-based international dredging company Boskalis, the companies announced Thursday.
At the end of last year, Boskalis tried to take over a division of Smit which provides harbour services for oil and gas terminals, but was met by strong opposition. Subsequent attempts to incorporate the whole of the Smit company also failed.
Boskalis CEO Peter Berdowski said Thursday there is no longer any question of breaking up Smit. All its activities will be continued. Ben Vree, current CEO of Smit will join the supervisory board of the merged company.
The merger creates a “Dutch maritime player of global stature,” said Berdowski. “The development of our profit margins brought the two companies together." Both companies have been hit by the economic crisis. Smit had already stopped taking on more staff and Boskalis lost projects worth 450 million euros, including the building of a port in Dubai.
“By investing less in dredging and more in salvage Boskalis wants to improve profits,” said Berdowski. He called Smit’s towing services a “pearl of growth”, as it has done relatively well in spite of the downturn in transhipment in the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp.
In the last three weeks, merger negotiations speeded up when it became apparent that Boskalis was prepared to not break up Smit after the take over. Berdowski: “We looked deep into each others eyes. Both Ben Vree and myself changed our tunes and decided we could create more synergy together.”
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