Sovkomflot will not buy out Novoship prefs

Sovkomflot will not buy out Novoship prefs and plans to leave free float at 18%. Sovkomflot plans to leave the preferred shares of OAO Novorossiysk Shipping Company (RTS: NOMP) in free float and will not acquire them from the company's minority shareholders as part of a buyout offer, Sovkomflot CEO Sergey Frank said. Novoship's free float amounts to 18% of its charter capital or 73% of the total number of preferred shares. Frank said that Novoship will remain a public company with its free float and the company will not likely be switched to a single share with Sovkomflot. The latter controls around 90% of Novoship commons, made a buyout offer to Sovkomflot's minority shareholders in early January and is to buy out common shares within 70 days. As soon as Sovkomflot consolidates 95% of shares, the company will make a mandatory buyout offer to Novoship shareholders for their voting shares, Frank said. The price of this offer mandatory for minority shareholders will not violate minority shareholder rights, Sovkomflot's manager assured, so that the company has no problems during a possible IPO.