LAM Family Holdings Ltd, one of the biggest shareholders of Portek International, formally accepted the offer of Mitsui & Co. Ltd. to buy all of its shares in the Singapore-based company.

With the deal, Mitsui now owns 63.9 percent of Portek, up from the previous 14.16 percent, making it difficult for International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) to take over Portek.

Lam Family sold around 40.94 percent of its shares in Portek to Mitsui, according to the company’s announcement issued on Friday at the Singapore Stock Exchange.

Lam Family, a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, is the investment holding vehicle the Lam Family Trust, which is constituted by Lam Choon Seng, who also sold all of his stake in Portek to Mitsui.

Mitsui bought Lam Family’s stake in Portek of around 62.46 million shares at S$1.40 apiece or S$87.44 million, excluding taxes, brokers’ fees, among others.

“The offer was declared unconditional in all respects on July 28,” the company said in its disclosure.

The deal confirmed an earlier report that the Lam Family, Portek’s founders, have made an irrevocable agreement with Japan’s Mitsui to sell all of its shares in the company known to both operate several ports and offer various port equipment and software.

ICTSI, which owns around 16.79 percent of the company, also wants to buy Portek but at a lower price of S$1.20.

The Manila-based company said earlier that it is still evaluating its options on Portek, which operates terminals in Indonesia, Algeria, Malta and Gabon and a dry port in Rwanda.

The company is a “unique” industry player as it acts both as a port operator and provider of equipment and solutions to various port operators, including ICTSI’s flagship Manila International Container Terminal.

“An acquisition of Portek would accelerate Mitsui’s growth strategy, providing it with an immediate expansion of its logistics infrastructure and network in the countries in which Portek operates,” Mitsui said.

(VG Cabuag)