OREANDA-NEWS. March 09, 2010. Novoship’s BoD made a decision to buy back its shares in the period between May 17 and May 31, 2010. In total, the company intends to buy out up to 41 266 042 common shares at a price of RUB 80 (USD 2.68) per share. The record date is set for May 18.

According to the company’s quarterly report, at the end of 2009, 75.01% of its common shares were in the hands of Sovkomflot, another 23.21% of shares were held on the books of its subsidiary companies and free float was under 1.78%. We recommend that the minority shareholders take advantage of this buyout offer. The price of RUB 80 share is close to a pre-crisis buyout price of RUB 81.82, when freight charges were close to their all-time highs. Secondly, Novoship’s common shares are not listed on trade floors, which may complicate their sales in the future. We believe that the shipper will buy out the bulk of the shares from its subsidiary companies.