GE Shipping's offshore unit demerger after 3 months

The Bombay High Court today approved an extension of the time limit for completing the proposed demerger of Great Eastern Shipping Company's (GE Shipping) offshore services business into a separate company, Great Offshore, by three months.

GE Shipping sought an extension of the deadline for the demerger scheme, which had automatically lapsed on August 3, as the procedures could not be completed within the stipulated time.

The Mumbai court's directive means that GE Shipping will have a time limit till November 3 for completion of the necessary procedures relating to the demerger.

The high court has also approved other modifications to the demerger scheme, including deletion of Clauses 24 and 32 in the original scheme relating to inter-se transfer of shares among the promoters.

According to the new scheme, post-demerger, both the companies "� GE Shipping and Great Offshore "� will be headed by K M Sheth as the chairman and will have identical promoters.

The company is confident that it will be able to obtain the pending approvals to complete the demerger process within the newly extended period.

"GE Shipping will declare effective date of the demerger after completing the necessary procedures," a senior company executive said.