07:04 AM EST, 12/13/2024 (MT Newswires) -- STEP Energy Services ( SNVVF ) on Friday said that following the announcement of an agreement to take the company private in an all-cash transaction at $5 per common share, about 40 million STEP shares have traded and over 60% of the trades occurred at prices exceeding $5 per share.

STEP on Nov. 4 announced an agreement with 2659160 Alberta and the limited partnerships comprising ARC Energy Fund 8, a private equity fund advised by ARC Financial, to take STEP private.

ARC said it believes much of the trading is attributable to opportunistic, event-driven investors amassing ownership in STEP in efforts to extract an increase in the cash price to be paid per share from ARC.

ARC said it will not increase the offer price, which resulted from extensive negotiations between ARC and the special committee of STEP independent directors.

The deal has been unanimously approved by the board and has received a positive recommendation from Institutional Shareholder Services.

A meeting of STEP shareholders is scheduled for Dec. 19. Based on proxies submitted, if the vote were held today, it would fail based on achieving less than a majority of the minority shareholder approval.

ARC has advised STEP that it is prepared to waive STEP's obligation to hold the meeting. ARC will continue to fulfill its contractual obligations under the agreement but will allow the deal to fail if a majority is not reached.

If the vote fails, ARC does not intend to make another proposal to take STEP private or to support any alternative transaction to acquire the STEP shares.