At the last extraordinary general meeting of NTS, there was a margin of only 350,000 votes in favor of the current board and Helge Gåsø against the proposed board from the so-called Rørvik group. After that, investment company Haspro bought approximately 1.2 million shares corresponding to one percent of NTS, BørsXtra reports. The shares were bought from the Alfred Berg fund, it appears from the current shareholder list.
Solvår Hallesdatter Hardesty is the general manager and co-owner of Haspro. She does not want to comment on the share purchase, or the motive for it today, but confirms the trade itself. Haspro now has a 9.5 per cent stake in NTS. The extraordinary general meeting will be held in Rørvik on 18 February.
Wanted to create something on the Namdal coast
Solvår Hallesdatter Hardesty is a third generation farmer, and sat on the board of Midt-Norsk Havbruk when it was bought by NTS. She then received a cash settlement of just over NOK 22 million (€2.2 million).
“We merged the companies because we want to create something bigger on the Namdal coast. We did not go public to cash in the winnings. I’ve always been in the hotel business. If I had known what I know today, I might have chosen a different path,” she said in May 2017.
She received NOK 22.4 million (€2.2 million) of the previously mentioned 200 million (€20 million) in a cash settlement – in addition to the price jump on the shares. In the long run, Hallesdatter Hardesty wants to become a more active owner in the companies in which her father has ownership interests.
On Wednesday around lunchtime, the NTS price is NOK 115 at the time of writing. That is five kroner above Mowi’s takeover bid. Helge Gåsø admits that he does not like the situation he and the companies have now found themselves in.
“No, this game was not fun for anyone, really. But it is a high stakes game, and if you are part of the game, then you have to take the rough with the smooth,” he said and added that they are now working to find solutions, Hitra-Frøya wrote.
