The chairman of Cosalt said last night he was confident the company would return to private ownership after revealing he had control of more than half its shares.
The deadline for shareholders to accept David Ross’s takeover offer passed yesterday and the Carphone Warehouse co-founder said 54% of the shares in the engineering business were under his control.
As Mr Ross now commands more than half of Cosalt’s shares he said his 0.2p-a-share offer had been made unconditional.
The bid values the company, which employs about 250 people at its Aberdeen-based offshore division, at just over £800,000.
Mr Ross said an extraordinary meeting (EGM) would now be held for shareholders to vote on his plans to delist the company.
Investors will receive information on the proposal in the coming days and the meeting will be held two weeks after the documents are issued.
Mr Ross said he needed the backing of 75% of shareholders before he could take the company private.
He said: “Now we have 54% of the shares the offer will go unconditional. Thereafter we will keep the offer open until the time of the EGM, when we will have a vote to take the company private.”
Mr Ross predicted that between now and the date of the extraordinary meeting there would be a “speeding up in the number of people selling shares who have previously stayed on the fence”.
Last month, Mr Ross warned Cosalt shareholders that without his financial support the company was unlikely to stay in business because its banks were unwilling to provide further funding.
Mr Ross had already provided Cosalt with £17.6million of funds, loans and guarantees in the past five years, but in December he provided a further £5million of credit to keep the company afloat while shareholders mulled over his offer.
He made his move to take the UK-listed firm private after Cosalt revealed net debts of £14million and a £9million pension-fund deficit.
Grimsby-based Cosalt employs 360 people.