Star Bulk Carriers Corp. completed the acquisition of Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. from Dimensional Fund Advisors LP, Lazard Asset Management LLC, Tigerstaden AS and others.
The transaction is subject to approval by Eagle shareholders, receipt of applicable regulatory approvals and satisfaction of other customary closing conditions. As of April 5, 2024, Eagle Bulk Shipping announced that its shareholders voted in favor of a proposal to approve and authorize the merger. The transaction was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies. the registration statement was declared effective on February 12, 2024. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2024. As of April 5, 2024 Eagle Bulk Shipping now expects to complete the merger on or about April 9, 2024.
O. Keith Hallam III, Jin-Kyu Baek, George E. Zobitz, D. Scott Bennett, C. Daniel Haaren, Christopher K. Fargo, Arvind Ravichandran, Amanda Hines Gold, David Crampton, Noah Joshua Phillips, Jesse M. Weiss, John D. Buretta, Benjamin G. Joseloff and Megan Y. Lew, Annmarie M. Terraciano, Brian M. Budnick and Lauren Piechocki, Paul Friedrich and Josh Banafsheha of Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP acted as legal counsels to Star Bulk. Houlihan Lokey is serving as financial advisor to Eagle and Dan Fisher, Zach Wittenberg, Jason Koenig, John Clayton, Rolf Zaiss, Josh Williams, Scott Pettifor, Gorav Jindal, Alex Reuss, Mary Lovely, Aaron Farovitch, Peretz Riesenberg and Brian Rafkin of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP acted as legal counsels to Eagle and John Beckman and Matthew Bowles of Hogan Lovells US LLP is serving as legal counsel to the Board of Directors of Eagle. Aaron Dixon of Alston & Bird represented Houlihan Lokey in the deal. Innisfree M&A Incorporated acted as proxy solicitor to Eagle and Eagle will pay Innisfree $30,000. Computershare Trust Company, N.A. acted as transfer agent to Eagle. Seward & Kissel LLP acted as legal advisor to Star Bulk. Houlihan Lokey is entitled to a transaction fee of $5,500,000 upon the consummation of the merger with Star Bulk, of which Houlihan Lokey became entitled to a fee of $1,500,000 for rendering its opinion to the Eagle Board.
Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NasdaqGS:SBLK) completed the acquisition of Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. (NYSE:EGLE) from Dimensional Fund Advisors LP, Lazard Asset Management LLC, Tigerstaden AS and others on April 9, 2024. Eagle common stock has ceased trading and will no longer be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.