Sebi allows ABG Shipyard and Bharati Shipyard to bid for Great Offshore
19 Nov 2009
The Securities and Exchange Board of India today cleared open offer plans by ABG Shipyard Ltd and Bharati Shipyard Ltd for Great Offshore Ltd, setting the stage for the next round of takeover battle for the country's largest integrated offshore services provider.
The market regulator sent a note to both companies vying for a controlling stake in the company to take the open-offer proceedings further, media reports quoted an unidentified source as saying.
ABG Shipyard Ltd, the largest private shipbuilder in the country and the second-largest shipmaker Bharati Shipyard Ltd are vying for a controlling stake in the company.
Sebi is expected to fix the date for the open offer process shortly.
Both firms have hiked their offers several times since May, when Bharati Shipyard acquired a 14.89 per cent stake in Great Offshore after a forfeiture of pledged shares with the company for which it paid Rs315 each for the stock.
Following the acquisition, Bharati Shipyard has been buying shares from the market through negotiated deals and in the most recent transaction it bought a 3.01 per cent stake in Great Offshore in mid-September, which took its stake to 22.48 per cent.
