Great Offshore, today said that it has not received any offer from Bharati Shipyard and ABG Shipyard for acquiring it and that Sebi has yet to give its approval for the acquisition.
Both Bharati Shipyard and ABG Shipyard have made several counter-offers for acquiring Great Offshore in the recent past through public pronouncements.
"Both Bharati Shipyard and ABG Shipyard have made public announcements, but the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is yet to give its permission," Great Offshore's General Manager, Rajat Dutta, told reporters on the sidelines of the company's annual general meeting here.
The annual general meeting of the company was held today under the interim board constituted following the exit of the original promoters, the Sheth family.
As per the shareholding pattern of the company on September 22, Bharati Shipyard holds 22.48 per cent, ABG Shipyard 9 per cent, insurance companies and banks 9 per cent, mutual funds 2 per cent and FIIs 8 per cent while the balance is with public. The original promoters, Vijay Sheth & family, hold 0.85 per cent stake in Great Offshore, Dutta said.
Last week, Bharati Shipyard had increased its stake to over 22 per cent in Great Offshore, following acquisition of shares worth Rs 42.26-crore through an open-market purchase.
Bharati Shipyard, through its wholly-owned division Dhanashree Properties, has acquired 756,000 shares or 2.04 per cent stake in Great Offshore at an average price of Rs 558.80 a piece, totalling Rs 42.26-crore, according to a bulk deal data on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Great Offshore also spoke about its plans to invest Rs 130-crore as capex in the current year.
"We are investing Rs 130-crore in the current fiscal. The amount is to be paid for existing assets which we have ordered for construction. We are not making any new acquisitions," Dutta added.
In the last two-years, the company has invested Rs 250-crore for acquisitions of new assets, he said.
As on March 2009, the company's fleet includes 41 vessels comprise two drilling units, a construction barge, 27 offshore support vessels and 11 harbour tugs. The heavy lift cargo vessel is currently operating in Khafji Oilfields on a long-term charter since November 2008.
During July 2009, the company took delivery of a new building tug to be deployed for Gangavaram Port operations.
There had been a delay in the delivery of the jack-up rig. As a consequence of the same, ONGC has as per terms of agreement terminated the contract against which the rig was to be deployed, and invoked the performance bank gurantee of $3.83-million. The jack-up rig is scheduled to be delivered during 2010, Great Offshore Chairman for the AGM, Keki M Elavia, said.
