MSC Buys $765 Million Stake in Wilson Sons
Investment holding company Ocean Wilsons has agreed to sell its 56.47% stake in Brazilian unit Wilson Sons to shipping services provider SAS for 4.35 billion reais ($764.9 million), it said on Monday.
London-listed Ocean Wilsons, which is the controlling shareholder of shipping firm Wilson Sons, said in a statement it was a "compelling time" for the sale, after it announced last year it was reviewing its investment in the Brazilian company.
The move by SAS, a unit of shipping giant MSC, follows French rival CMA CGM's $2 billion deal to buy port terminal operator Santos Brasil last month.
MSC, a privately-held Swiss group, has been expanding its presence in major commodity exporter Brazil through investments and acquisitions, and had already purchased local logistics firm Log-In in 2021.
Wilson Sons' portfolio includes container terminals in the states of Bahia and Rio Grande do Sul, as well as tugboats, offshore support vessels, a logistics center, and two shipyards.
Ocean Wilsons' deal with MSC implies a price of 17.50 reais per Wilson Sons share, below its Friday closing of 17.85 reais.
After the deal was announced, Sao Paulo-traded shares of Wilson Sons fell more than 9%, while Ocean Wilsons' London-traded shares jumped as much as 8.3%, hitting a record high before surrendering gains.
Ocean Wilsons said it expected to return a portion of the deal proceeds as special dividends, and was considering re-investing the rest into its diversified portfolio business, Ocean Wilsons Investments.
Jefferies analysts noted that the price tag was "a touch below Friday's close for Wilson Sons," whose shares had surged 66% since a 2021 restructuring, but said the agreed dividends should offset that.
MSC's SAS beat private equity firm I Squared Capital, whose talks with Ocean Wilsons about the Brazilian company had been revealed in August.
The Swiss group will launch a tender offer for all the remaining shares of Wilson Sons after the transaction's closing expected in the second half of 2025.
($1 = 5.6894 reais)
(Reuters - Reporting by Gabriel Araujo and Yamini Kalia; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Tomasz Janowski)