Bharati Shipyard, India’s second largest, which held 45.8 per cent stake in drilling company Great Offshore, has acquired an additional three per cent in the company from its rival, ABG Shipyard, for Rs 53.7 crore.
Bharati Shipyard said it had bought the Great Offshore shares from ABG Shipyard at Rs 480 a share, a premium of 10.5 per cent to the stock's closing price of Rs 434.25 a share on the Bombay Stock Exchange today.
ABG had acquired a 15.23 per cent stake in Great Offshore through an open offer in December. The company and its rival, Bharati Shipyard, had made competitive bids to acquire 33.8 per cent and 20 per cent stakes, respectively, in Great Offshore. ABG’s offer was to acquire stake at Rs 520 a share, while Bharati’s was to acquire at Rs 590 a share. Bharati received 27 per cent of the stake, against its offer to acquire 20 per cent.
Bharati Shipyard had bought 14.89 per cent in Great Offshore last May, at Rs 315 a share, from the latter’s then vice-chairman and managing director, Vijay Sheth, following an invocation of shares that he had pledged. This left Sheth with less than one per cent and he lost control.
Following this, on June 4, Bharati made an open offer to acquire an additional 20 per cent stake at Rs 344 a share. On June 23, ABG Shipyard, which held 8.23 per cent in Great Offshore, made a counter-offer to acquire 33.8 per cent at Rs 375 a share.
On the same day, Bharati acquired an additional 14.5 per cent in a bulk deal at Rs 403 a share and later increased its open offer price to Rs 405 a share. ABG Shipyard then bought an additional six per cent in three tranches from the open market and increased its open offer price to Rs 450 a share and, finally, to Rs 520 a share. This made Bharati increase its open offer price to Rs 560 a share, after increasing its stake to 22.8 per cent from open market transactions.
In December, before the open offer started, Bharati again revised its price, to Rs 590 a share. The following day, ABG sold its existing 8.23 per cent holding and effectively exited the race. However, in the open offer, it received 15.23 per cent stake. It has now sold a part of this 15.23 per cent.
