The bid to control Great offshore took a new turn on Wednesday after ABG Shipyard acquired over 19.26 lakh shares of Great Offshore in separate bulk deals on the BSE and NSE at Rs 450 a share.
This has automatically raised the open offer price to Rs 450 (according to the Securities and Exchange Board of India regulations for determining the open offer price).
Confirming the deal, Mr Dhananjay Datar, Chief Financial Officer, ABG Shipyard Ltd, told Business Line that through purchase of additional shares through block deals from various mutual funds (DSP BlackRock and Sundaram BNP Paribas), ABG’s stake in Great Offshore has increased to 7.32 per cent from 2.02 per cent.
On June 23, Great Offshore found itself at the centre of a takeover battle after ABG Shipyard through its fully-owned subsidiary Eleventh Land Developers made an open offer to acquire 32.12 per cent stake in the offshore services firm at Rs 375 a share, 9 per cent higher than Bharati’s offer price of Rs 344 a share.
Currently, Bharati Shipyard holds 19.47 per cent in Great Offshore. In July, Bharati Shipyard had increased its open offer price to Rs 405 a share.
Great Offshore shares rose 4.75 per cent to Rs 457.8 on the BSE. Bharati Shipyard’s shares declined by 2.75 per cent to Rs 152.05, while ABG’s fell by 2.87 per cent to Rs 203.25.
Source: The Hindu Businessline