Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Foreign ship race for stake in ABG Heavy

Two foreign shipping lines, Zim of Israel and Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Company, the world’s second-largest container line, are believed to have approached ABG Heavy Industries (ABGHIL) to pick up an equity stake.


The Mumbai-based port service provider, which recently offloaded 12% to the Port of Singapore Authority (PSA), has also been approached by a couple of private equity players. Sources said ABGHIL is looking to raise capital to fund its expansion projects. The company’s capital expansion plans include Rs 300 crore investment in its crane manufacturing capacity, and up to Rs 2,000 crore investment in the port sector. Plans are also afoot to invest in a new crane manufacturing facility at Ransai in Navi Mumbai. It also plans to bid for the proposed minor terminal of the 330-metre quay line at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT). ABGHIL currently operates the Kolkata container terminal under a unique own-operate-maintain contract since April 2005, and has handled 170,000 containers during the last financial year (2006-07). It hopes to handle over 200,000 TEUs during the current fiscal.


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