West Coast shipping giant offers $450M to buy Tampa company

A Seattle freight company with $5 billion in sales is in the market to possibly buy a publicly traded Tampa shipping company.

The Tampa company, Overseas Shipholding Group, which ships crude oil and petroleum products, says its board of directors received an unsolicited non-binding indication of interest from Saltchuk Resources for the acquisition of all of its outstanding shares that Saltchuk does not already own, for $6.25 per share in cash.

At $6.25 per share and with roughly 72.4 million Overseas Shipholding shares outstanding, the company's equity would be valued at around $450 million, according to industry publication Seatrade Maritime. Saltchuk and Overseas Shipholding discussed a possible acquisition in mid-2021, the publication reporter, but no deal was completed.

Overseas Shipholding trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "OSG," and as of Wednesday, had a market cap of $445 million. The company was founded in 1948.

The group's board says in a news release that it is "committed to acting in the best interests of all stockholders. Consistent with its fiduciary duties, OSG's board of directors will be carefully considering and evaluating, in consultation with its financial and legal advisors, this indication of interest."

Overseas Shipholding Group says its U.S. flag fleet consists of Suezmax crude oil tankers doing business in Alaska, conventional and lightering tug-barges, shuttle and conventional medium-range tankers, and non-Jones Act medium-range tankers that participate in the U.S. Tanker Security Program.

At the end of 2022, Overseas Shipholding Group reported $466.8 million in revenue. For the nine months ended Sept. 30, the group reported $335.9 million in revenue. 

Saltchuk says it is a privately owned group of diversified freight transportation, marine service and energy distribution companies headquartered in Seattle. The company says it has annual revenues of $5 billion and 7,000 employees.

Saltchuk says its companies provide air cargo, marine services, energy distribution, domestic shipping, international shipping and logistics.