BackSivasankaran buys 23.5% stake in Nordic Tankers
Sivasankaran buys 23.5% stake in Nordic Tankers
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Bangalore: Serial entrepreneur C. Sivasankaran, chairman of Sterling Group, has become the second largest shareholder in Copenhagen-listed Nordic Tankers A/S after picking up a 23.5% stake worth about $15 million (Rs70 crore) in the Danish shipowner through a rights issue that ran between 28 April and 12 May.
Siva now controls about a quarter of Nordic Tankers, chief executive Tommy Thomsen said over phone from Copenhagen on Wednesday.
The acquisition was made by Siva Ventures Ltd, the flagship of the Sterling Group, which has interests in telecommunications, media, biofuels, wind energy and real estate.
Clipper Group AS, the biggest shareholder in Nordic, participated in the rights issue, maintaining its shareholding at about 31%, Thomsen said. The rights issue was aimed at improving the company’s cash resources and equity ratio, he added.
Siva did not hold shares in Nordic Tankers prior to the rights issue, Thomsen said.
Sivasankaran was not immediately available for comment.
Nordic is Sterling Group’s second major investment in shipping after it bought Norwegian shipping firm JB Ugland Shipping AS in a deal worth about $300 million in February 2008.
p.manoj@livemint.com
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