The bidding war for Great Offshore ratcheted up a notch with ABG Shipyard saying it would come out with a counter offer to rival Bharati Shipyard’s offer of INR 560 a share announced on Wednesday after it acquired 3.1%from the open market to take its total holding to 22.4%.

Mr Dhananjay Datar CFO of ABG Shipyard said that “We are definitely in the race to buy a controlling stake. The price and date of the counter offer will be decided later.”

Great Offshore is the target of a bidding war in which India’s two largest private ship builders are trying to take control. On August 5th ABG Shipyard, the largest private sector shipbuilder, raised the open offer price for Great Offshore to INR 520 from INR 450 announced earlier.

This was the second increase in the open offer price by ABG in a week, even as it continued to buy shares from the open market to outbid its rival. ABG Shipyard’s holding in Great Offshore reached 8.28%.

Bharati Shipyard responded after over a month by increasing its stake for the second time on Wednesday. Earlier, the company had revised its offer price from INR 344 to INR 405 a share.

Bharati acquired 14.89% in Great Offshore in May, at a price of INR 315 per share from Mr Vijay Sheth by invoking shares he had pledged against a loan.

(Sourced from Business Standards)