ABG Shipyard may revise Great Offshore offer price

MUMBAI: ABG Shipyard may revise the price for buying a controlling stake in Great Offshore after rival Bharati Shipyard upped the offer to Rs 560 per share for the oil rig and offshore services company. "We will react to whatever Bharati has done. We have time at our disposal as (market regulator) SEBI has not yet cleared our proposal (for an open offer). We are fully in the game," ABG Shipyard CFO Dhananjay Datar told ET on Thursday.

Bharati on Wednesday scaled up its stake in Great Offshore by 3% to 22.5% and revised its offer to Rs 560 a share, higher than ABG's bid of Rs 520 a share.

"We want more than 40% in Great Offshore," Mr Datar said. ABG, the country's largest private shipbuilder by sales, intends to buy a 32% stake through its offer while Bharati's open offer aims at buying a 20% stake.

When asked about the possible revised price of ABG, Mr Datar said: "We have more than a month to decide on it." Open offers by both ABG and Bharati will be launched simultaneously next month and will be open for 20 days. ABG, which launched a hostile take-over bid to counter Bharati's open offer in June, holds 8% stake in Great Offshore.

Both ABG and Bharati make dry bulk carriers and offshore rigs and a controlling stake in Great Offshore will help them become integrated marine services companies, offering services ranging from ship building to offshore drilling and logistics.