Nod for ABG,Bharati offers for Great Offshore

The takeover battle for Great Offshore is likely to intensify with both ABG Shipyard Ltd and Bharati Shipyard Ltd receiving regulatory approvals for their open offers for a stake in Great Offshore. While ABG Shipyard has received approval from the Sebi to acquire management control,Bharati can only increase its stake,but not gain control. The bid for Great Offshore began in late May when Bharati acquired the founder’s stake after he failed to repay margin calls on shares,which he had pledged,prompting an open offer under takeover rules. ABG entered the fray in late June with a higher offer,which then led to a series of counter bids by the two companies.

Bharati is not allowed to make an offer under Section 12 of the Sebi Act,which allows management control,because its revised offer came in late. The shipbuilder was asked to revise its offer in 14 days of the last bid. Since Bharati Shipyard has revised the open offer after more than 4 months,Sebi has asked it to make the offer under the original section 10. Shares of ABG Shipyard ended up 0.64 per cent to Rs 203.15 while Bharti Shipyard were up 0.88 per cent to Rs 165.65 in a weak Mumbai market.