Grimaldi wants all of Finnlines

Grimaldi wants all of Finnlines    Italy’s Grimaldi has offered 648.5 million euros ($812.6 million) for the outstanding shares in Finnish shipping company Finnlines.
   Grimaldi already owns 46.2 percent of all Finnlines’ shares and votes. As consideration in the planned voluntary offer, Grimaldi will pay 15.95 euros ($19.99) per share in cash, the largest amount it has paid for shares in the Helsinki-based company in the last six months.
   The planned voluntary offer period will begin before the end of October and it will last about five weeks, Grimaldi said.
   Finnlines posted an operating profit of 41 million euros ($51.4 million) in 2005 on revenue of 747 million euros ($936 million). Last month, it sold Team Lines, North Europe’s second-largest feeder operator, to Antwerp-based Delphis for 40 million euros ($50.1 million) to focus on its “core businesses, ropax and roro services and port operations.”
   Grimaldi is the parent company of transatlantic roll-on/roll-off and container service carrier Atlantic Container Lines.