Chairman urges Cosalt shareholders to accept his offer for the business

Mr Ross, who wants to de-list the company, has made a £400,000 offer for Grimsby-based marine safety equipment provider Cosalt. Shareholders have until December 20 to accept his controversial offer of 0.1p per share.

Mr Ross said in the letter, published today: “It is clear, I believe, that the company needs a significant level of further investment into it, shorn of the burden and cost that it has as a public company, in order for it to survive and to effect a turnaround of its fortunes.”

Mr Ross recently offered to lend the company £5m of short-term cash to keep it trading, while shareholders continued to weigh up his offer.

“Without a sufficient inflow of finance into the business, the company’s whole future is at stake and its options are extremely limited. The company’s banks are not prepared to provide any further funds to the business. The funds I have committed during the offer period are repayable on December 22, 2011. If my offer is not accepted by shareholders, then unless any other offers of finance are provided to the company in the meantime, I do not believe the company has the ability to continue as a going concern.”

He added in the letter: “I am aware that the level of the offer is at a significant discount to the levels that the shares have historically traded at and that this is a frustration for you as shareholders, as some of you have expressed.

“However, this does not render my offer a ‘bargain basement’ price - to the contrary, I believe it fairly reflects the company’s current difficult financial position not least the expectation that the pressure on the group’s cash flows will continue, as referred to by the company’s independent directors in the offer document, and it is only part of the financial commitment which I believe is required to secure the company’s future.”