Ocean Network Express (ONE) is part of a consortium bidding to take Atlas Corp., owner of Seaspan Corp., private.

Atlas Corp is a global asset management company, while Seaspan — its wholly-owned subsidiary — is the world's largest independent charter owner and manager of containerships.

 Photo: Seaspan Corp.

"Ocean Network Express (ONE), together with partners (the Consortium) have jointly proposed to acquire all the outstanding common shares of Atlas Corp. (ATCO) that are not owned or controlled by the Consortium members," ONE said in an announcement.

It added that the non-binding proposal was conveyed on August 4, in a letter to Atlas' Board of Directors from the Consortium.

ONE said it will be negotiating with Atlas as part of the Consortium.

The Poseidon Acquisition Consortium includes affiliates of Fairfax Financial Holdings, the Washington Family, and David Sokol, Chair of Atlas. The Consortium is offering US$14.45 per share to Atlas. 

So far, Consortium members Fairfax, Washington, and Sokol, together control about 68% of the common shares of Atlas.

"The consortium believes the proposed transaction will provide Atlas' common shareholders with immediate liquidity and certainty of value at a significant premium to the current share price while allowing Atlas to focus on the long term without the emphasis on short-term results and providing Atlas with an ideal strategic partner to support its future growth," said David Sokol, chairman of the board of directors and member of the Poseidon Consortium.

Seaspan's owned and operated fleet consists of 132 vessels with a total capacity of 1.15 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

It owns and operates ships of every size, from 2,500 to 24,000 TEUs. It listed at least 17 charterers including the world's six largest container lines – CMA CGM, Cosco, Hapag-Lloyd, ONE, and Maersk.

The list also includes ZIM, OOCL, PIL, Yang Ming, and K-LINE among others.