This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on March 11, 2020

KUALA LUMPUR: Eversendai Corp Bhd has agreed to buy executive chairman and group managing director Tan Sri AK Nathan’s private liftboat company.

In a bourse filing yesterday, the construction group said it would acquire the entire issued capital of Vahana Offshore (M) Sdn Bhd from Nathan’s Vahana Holdings Sdn Bhd.

Vahana Holdings, which has a 71.11% stake in Eversendai, offered to sell Vahana Offshore to Eversendai on Feb 10.

“Upon due deliberation of the offer set out in the letter of offer, the board (save for the interested directors) has resolved to accept Vahana Holdings’ offer, subject to the finalisation and execution of the definitive agreement,” Eversendai said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday.

Nathan, who is also the founder of Eversendai, and his son Narishnath Nathan, also a director of Eversendai, abstained from voting on the matter.

“In this respect, we seek your consent to extend the exclusive period to March 31, 2020, for both parties to finalise and execute the definitive agreement,” Eversendai told Bursa Malaysia.

Vahana Offshore owns two liftboats, Vahana Aryan and the still-under construction Vahana Arjun. The two liftboats have secured a five-year charter contract to work on Saudi Aramco projects, starting in June 2020 and June 2021.

Eversendai expects the acquisition to help improve its bottom line and bring new revenue source for the group.

Eversendai said the purchase price of Vahana Offshore will be ascertained by an independent valuer, and will be satisfied via the issuance of new redeemable convertible preference shares.