The board of trustees of Atlas Cold Storage Income Trust has formally rejected the unsolicited takeover bid by Eimskip Atlas Canada Inc, an indirect subsidiary of Iceland-based investment group Avion Group HF.
Jon K Grant, Atlas' chairman of the board, said, “We believe that the Avion offer does not reflect the underlying value of Atlas’ business. We are exploring alternatives that may offer higher value for all Atlas unitholders. The terms of this offer are favorable to Avion but not to Atlas unitholders."
In Avion Group's response to the announcement, executive chairman Magnus Thorsteinsson said, "We remain confident that our offer is fair and represents full value to Atlas Cold Storage unitholders. While we are disappointed with the response of the Atlas board of trustees, we point out that our offer amounts to 11.0 times estimated 2006 EBITDA of Atlas and is therefore a premium offer.”
Atlas is the largest public refrigerated warehouse operator in Canada and the second-largest in North America.
