Taylor Maritime Investments Limited and Grindrod Shipping Holdings Ltd. Jointly Announce the Expiration and Results of the Subsequent Offering Period

SINGAPORE, Dec. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Taylor Maritime Investments Limited (LON: TMI / TMIP) (“TMI”), an internally managed investment company specializing in the acquisition and chartering of vessels in the handysize and supramax bulk carrier segments of the global shipping sector, and Grindrod Shipping Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRIN) (JSE: GSH) (“Grindrod Shipping” or the “Company”), a global provider of maritime transportation services in the drybulk sector, today jointly announced the expiration of the subsequent offering period (the “Subsequent Offering Period”) of the voluntary conditional cash offer (the “Offer”) made by Good Falkirk (MI) Limited (the “Offeror”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of TMI, for all of the ordinary shares (other than Shares held by the Offeror and Shares held in treasury) in the capital of Grindrod Shipping (“Shares”). The Subsequent Offering Period expired at 11:59 p.m., New York time, on December 19, 2022.

Computershare Trust Company, N.A., the depositary for the Offer, has advised that, as at 11:59 p.m., New York time, on December 19, 2022, a total of 1,839,787 Shares had been validly tendered pursuant to the Offer during the Subsequent Offering Period, representing approximately 9.45% of the outstanding Shares (including the number of Shares resulting from the valid vesting and settlement in full of the Company Forfeitable Shares). All Shares that were validly tendered during the Subsequent Offering Period, on the terms and subject to the conditions and restrictions of the Offer, have been accepted for payment. As at 11:59 p.m., New York time, on December 19, 2022, a total of 16,206,365 Shares are held by the Offeror and its affiliates or have been validly tendered to the Offeror (including the Shares that have been validly tendered during the Subsequent Offering Period), representing 83.23% of the outstanding Shares (including the number of Shares resulting from the valid vesting and settlement in full of the Company Forfeitable Shares).

At the appropriate time and in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations, the Offeror may cause the Company to delist the Shares from the Nasdaq Global Select Market and the Main Board of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and terminate the Company’s reporting obligations under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Delisting and deregistration of the Shares would likely significantly reduce the liquidity and marketability of any Shares that have not been tendered pursuant to the Offer.

About TMI

TMI is an internally managed investment company listed on the Premium Segment of the Official List, its shares trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange since May 2021. TMI specializes in the acquisition and chartering of vessels in the handysize and supramax bulk carrier segments of the global shipping sector. TMI invests in a diversified portfolio of vessels which are primarily second-hand and which, historically, have demonstrated average yields in excess of TMI’s target dividend yield of 8% p.a. (on the initial issue price). The current portfolio numbers 26 vessels in the geared dry bulk segment (handysize and supramax types). The ships are employed utilizing a variety of employment/charter strategies.

About Grindrod Shipping

Grindrod Shipping owns and operates a diversified fleet of owned and long-term and short-term chartered-in drybulk vessels. The drybulk business, which operates under the brand “Island View Shipping” (“IVS”) includes a core fleet of 15 handysize drybulk carriers and 16 supramax/ultramax drybulk carriers. Grindrod Shipping is based in Singapore, with offices in London, Durban, Tokyo and Rotterdam. Grindrod Shipping is listed on NASDAQ under the ticker “GRIN” and on the JSE under the ticker “GSH”. 

Responsibility Statement

TMI

The board of directors of TMI (the “TMI Board”) (including those who may have delegated detailed supervision of this announcement) has taken all reasonable care to ensure that the facts stated and all opinions expressed herein are fair and accurate and that no material facts have been omitted from this announcement, the omission of which would make any statement in this announcement misleading, and the TMI Board jointly and severally accepts responsibility accordingly. Where any information in this announcement has been extracted or reproduced from published or otherwise publicly available sources or obtained from Grindrod Shipping and its subsidiaries and associated companies, the sole responsibility of the TMI Board has been to ensure, through reasonable enquiries, that such information has been accurately and correctly extracted from such sources or, as the case may be, accurately reflected or reproduced herein.

Grindrod Shipping

The directors of Grindrod Shipping (including those who may have delegated detailed supervision of this announcement) have taken all reasonable care to ensure that the facts stated and all opinions expressed herein are fair and accurate and that no material facts have been omitted from this announcement, the omission of which would make any statement in this announcement misleading, and they jointly and severally accept responsibility accordingly. Where any information has been extracted or reproduced from published or otherwise publicly available sources or obtained from TMI or the Offeror, the sole responsibility of the directors has been to ensure, through reasonable enquiries, that such information is accurately extracted from such sources or, as the case may be, accurately reflected or reproduced herein.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains or incorporates by reference forward-looking statements regarding the Company’s management’s, or TMI’s or the Offeror’s, as applicable, future expectations, beliefs, intentions, goals, strategies, plans or prospects. Forward-looking statements include but are not limited to those using words such as “expect”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “intend”, “project”, “plan”, “strategy”, “forecast” and similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as “if”, “will”, “would”, “should”, “could”, “may” and “might”. These statements reflect the Company’s, or TMI’s or the Offeror’s, as applicable, current expectations, beliefs, hopes, intentions or strategies regarding the future and assumptions in light of currently available information. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or events and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties including, among other things, uncertainties as to the timing and ability of the Company to delist and suspend its reporting obligations and the impact thereof on the market for the Shares. Accordingly, actual results may differ materially from those described in such forward-looking statements. Shareholders should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, and none of the Company, TMI or the Offeror undertake any obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements, subject to compliance with all applicable laws and regulations and/or the rules of NASDAQ, JSE and/or any other regulatory or supervisory body or agency. A further description of risks and uncertainties relating to the Company can be found in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 filed with the SEC on March 25, 2022, and in the subsequent interim financial information included in the Company Report on Form 6-K furnished to the SEC on August 17, 2022 and November 16, 2022, all of which are available for free at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Copies of these documents are also available free of charge on the Company’s internet website at grinshipping.com/investorrelations.

Important Information

This communication is for informational purposes only, is not a recommendation and is neither an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell any Shares of the Company or any other securities, nor is it a substitute for the Tender Offer Statement on Schedule TO and other necessary filings that TMI and the Offeror filed, and the Solicitation/Recommendation Statement on Schedule 14D-9 and other necessary filings that the Company filed, with the SEC on October 28, 2022. Any solicitation and offer to buy Shares of the Company was only being made pursuant to the Offer to Purchase and related tender offer materials. The Tender Offer Statement, including the offer to purchase and certain other offer documents (as they may be updated and amended from time to time), and the Solicitation/Recommendation Statement on Schedule 14D-9 contain important information. The offer to purchase and the solicitation/recommendation statement and other filings related to the offer are available for free at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Copies of the documents filed with the SEC by TMI and/or the Offeror are available free of charge on TMI’s website at www.taylormaritimeinvestments.com/investor-centre/shareholder-information/. Copies of the Offer to Purchase, the solicitation/recommendation statement on Schedule 14D‑9 and the other documents filed with the SEC by the Company are available free of charge on the Company’s website at www.grinshipping.com/investorrelations.