ABG Shipyard, India?s biggest non-state shipyard, may rethink its open offer price for 20% stake in Great Offshore after Bharati Shipyard revised its offer to Rs 405 a share on Monday from the previous Rs 403.
?We are serious about Great Offshore. However, we do not have a fixed timetable. We will strategise and decide our path regarding Great Offshore. The board will decide on the counter bid,? Dhananjay Datar, chief financial officer, ABG Shipyard, told FE.
The revised offer of Bharati, which currently holds around 19.5% stake in Great Offshore, would begin on July 25 and end in August 13.
Earlier, ABG Shipyard, which holds over 2% in Great Offshore, made a counter bid to acquire 32.12% in the company at Rs 375 a share in response to Bharati Shipyard’s initial bid of Rs 344 per share.
ABG’s earlier offer for Great Offshore is scheduled to open August 13 and close on September 1.
According to analysts, the battle between both ABG and Bharati for Great Offshore will be a long drawn one, and might even linger.
Analysts believe that Great Offshore will provide the shipyards a relatively secure cash flow as the offshore business is not as cyclical as shipbuilding.
As Great Offshore is an asset rich company and has a number of long-term contracts, it is likely to provide security in terms of revenue.
?As demand rises for drilling ships, the battle for Great Offshore will intensify between the two firms. Acquiring Great Offshore would help ABG expand into rigs from its existing operations. On the other hand, Bharati has a long relationship with Great Offshore and has been building vessels for them since long. They also would not give up easily,? said an industry analyst.
Though shares of Great Offshore rose 1.5% on Tuesday, it closed at Rs 433.80, down 0.55% on the Bombay Stock Exchange. ABG?s shares closed at Rs 176.55, down 3.31%. Bharati?s shares ended at Rs 156.85, down 2.73%.