A consortium involving Royal Boskalis Westminster and Saudi group Rezayat said it would pursue a merger with the terminals division of Smit Internationale which rejected their $300 million offer.

Boskalis, the world's largest dredger, and Rezayat said on Monday they had made the cash offer for Smit's oil and gas terminal services unit, which they want to merge with the Lamnalco Group in which they each have a 50 percent stake.

But Smit rejected the offer on Tuesday, saying its executive and supervisory boards did not consider it to be in the best interest of the company and its stakeholders.

The Dutch maritime service provider added it was committed to the strategy it had followed for some years and its terminal activities formed part of that strategy as a stable business with steady growth.

"Smit is well positioned to benefit from the expected growth in the global market for terminal services to the oil and gas industry with an excellent customer base with long-term contracts," the firm said in a statement.

The Lamnalco shareholders argued in a statement that a merger of the terminal businesses would be in the best interest of their mutual stakeholders.

Smit shares closed up 0.9 percent at 58.31 euros while Boskalis shares ended up 1.3 percent at 39.30 euros. - Reuters