January 9 - At the end of December, Royal Boskalis Westminster announced that it was making an all-cash offer for the issued and outstanding ordinary shares in shipping line Dockwise of EUR18.5 per share.

The offer values Dockwise at EUR733 million with an enterprise value of EUR1.25 billion. In a statement issued by Boskalis it explained that it will finance the offer and refinance existing facilities through a mix of existing cash resources, new senior debt facilities and an equity issuance.

Boskalis has convened an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders to request that they allow the management board to issue new Boskalis shares up to a maximum of 10 percent of the number of ordinary shares currently issued.

In addition to the current cash reserves available and proceeds generated as a result of the equity issue, Boskalis has secured a combination of three and five-year bank facilities and a one-year bridge facility for a total of EUR1.3 billion. The debt financing has been arranged with ABN AMRO Bank, ING Bank, Rabobank and The Royal Bank of Scotland.

Boskalis will imminently submit a request for approval of its offer document to the Oslo Stock Exchange and the Netherlands Authority for Financial Markets. Boskalis expects the document to be published and the offer is expected to commence from January 21 2013.

www.boskalis.com

www.dockwise.com

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