ABG Shipyard Stake for Sale
By Aiswarya Lakshmi
Friday, February 19, 2016
The cash-strapped Indian shipbuilder ABG Shipyard will likely close the deal for a 51 per cent stake sale by the end of this financial year, its managing director and CEO Syed Abdi said.
Syed said the company had narrowed it down to one player for the stake sale and was looking to raise about Rs 500 crore for its working capital requirements.
ABG Shipyard Ltd was in talks with a clutch of domestic and international investors for selling as much as 51% in the country’s largest shipbuilder.
India’s largest private shipbuilder is in the midst of a corporate debt restructuring (CDR) exercise under which the creditors led by State Bank of India agreed last year to recast Rs.11,000 crore of loans, offering ABG Shipyard a two-year moratorium on payment of interest, reduced borrowing cost and extended the repayment period.
ABG Shipyard was in talks with Germany-based Privinvest Holding for financial collaboration but it had failed, leaving the domestic shipbuilder with no option but to scout for another investor.
It has an order book of USD 2 billion and will bid for naval and defence contracts of over USD 1 billion in the near future. "We have bid for USD 1 billion worth defence and naval orders which includes landing platform docks and anti-submarine warfare," he added.