Cosalt shares more than doubled in value yesterday in a twist which could put a questionmark over chairman David Ross’s chances of taking the engineering firm private.
Mr Ross’s 0.2p-a-share offer for Cosalt was declared unconditional last month after he gained control of 54% of the shares, but the price jumped by nearly 130% last night from 0.38p to 0.85p.
Mr Ross, who now controls just over 56% of the company, wants to delist Cosalt from the Stock Exchange and shareholders are expected to vote on the proposals in the coming weeks.
He needs 75% of shareholders to back his plan to delist the business, which employs 250 people at its Aberdeen-based offshore division.
Alan MacPhee, investment manager at Brewin Dolphin in Aberdeen, said more than 19million shares changed hands yesterday but there did not appear to be any immediate reason for the price movement.
Mr Ross has faced criticism from some shareholders who believed he was trying to take ownership of Cosalt at a discount price, but he hit back at his critics and said without his intervention the company would have collapsed.
Mr Ross said at the time that, if Cosalt was delisted, he would take on its multimillion-pound debts and pension deficit. He has also given it a £5million loan to keep it afloat.