Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) has increased its holding in Fugro N.V. to 25.1%.

Boskalis stresses that this is not a step towards making an offer. Boskalis views Fugro as an “interesting company” with strong market positions in its core activities.

Earlier this year, Boskalis increased its holding in Fugro to 20 percent, which Fugro characterized as unsolicited stake building, insisting that the company values its independence.

According to Boskalis, its strategy is focused on offshore and (maritime) infrastructure, making use of the combination of high end know-how and maritime assets. This fits very well with the activities of Fugro. The two companies have a lot in common in the area of assets, knowledge, capital intensity, global coverage, client base and are both global leaders in niche markets.

“This makes Fugro’s position highly sensitive to conflicts of interest in particular in relation to construction and installation contractors. Hence Fugro does not agree with the statement by Boskalis’ statement that Fugro’s activities “fit very well” with Boskalis. Fugro can only maintain its current market leading positions if it remains an independent service provider,” said Fugro in a statement.