ABG Shipyard joins fray for Great Offshore

ABG Shipyard on Tuesday made an open offer for acquiring a 32.12 per cent stake in Great Offshore at Rs 375 a share, countering an offer made by rival Bharati Shipyard earlier this month. The open offer has been made by Eleventh Land Developers, alongwith ABG Shipyard, for acquiring 1,25,71,072 shares, representing 32.12 per cent stake at Rs 375 a piece, aggregating to over Rs 471.41 crore, shipping firm ABG Shipyard said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The offer would begin on August 13 and close on September 1. Kotak Mahindra Capital is acting as manager to the offer. Earlier this month, Bharati Shipyard, which already owns 15 per cent stake in Great Offshore, had made an open offer for acquiring a 20 per cent stake comprising 78,26,788 shares in the logistics firm at Rs 344 a share. Rishi Agarwal, chairman of ABG Shipyard, said that "we always felt that a platform like this is beneficial for ABG such as great synergy and one-stop shop for marine solutions." ABG Shipyard also said that it will evaluate revision in open offer price if needed and it is open to discussions with any entity on Great Offshore, adding that it will use internal accruals and existing lines of credit for Great Offshore buy. ABG Shipyard also said that it will re-look the Great- Bharati Shipyard contract if it gets control.