Fincantieri, the Italian shipbuilding group, said it has launched a voluntary offer to acquire the 44.37% of the shares in Vard Holding, the Norwegian shipbuilding group that it does not already own.

The offer which has been made through the Italian group’s Fincantieri Oil & Gas unit, values the Singapore listed Vard’s shares at SGD0.24 each or SGD125.6 million in total.

Vard is one of the largest global shipbuilders of offshore and specialised vessels, with about 9,000 employees and nine shipyards in Norway, Romania, Brazil and Vietnam. In the course of this year, it has established itself as a major builder of expedition cruise vessels.

“The purpose of the Offer is to delist Vard from the Singapore Stock Exchange and the Offer is conditional upon Fincantieri O&G acquiring more than 90% of the total Vard shares. Once this condition is met, the Singapore Stock Exchange may suspend trading of the Vard shares following the close of the Offer,” Fincantieri said.

“The offer period will begin on the day an Offer document is dispatched to shareholders, and will end on a date at least 28 days after the day the Offer document is dispatched, subject to further extensions,” the Italian company concluded.