GE Shipping for extension of demerger offshore

New Delhi, Aug 10: GE Shipping Company Ltd will file an application in the Bombay High Court seeking extension of the timeline for the demerger of its offshore services business into Great Offshore Ltd, which had lapsed on August 2, 2006.

At this juncture, since the scheme had lapsed, the board unanimously decided that having regard to all facts and circumstances, it was in the best interests of the shareholders, to seek an extension of time from the Bombay High Court.

The board believes that it will be able to obtain the remaining approvals to complete the demerger process within the extension period, a company statement said today.

After the demerger, GE Shipping and Great Offshore Ltd, will be headed by Mr K M Sheth as its Chairman and will have identical promoters.

On August 2, 2006, despite excellent cooperation from all the contracting counter parties having regard to the legal and commercial complexities of the matter, the process of demerger could not be completed before the automatically lapsing deadline.

Meanwhile, Greatship (India) Ltd (GIL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, took delivery of a modern midsized Platform Supply Vessel (PSV). This will be the first offshore asset owned by the company and is named 'Greatship Disha', the statement added.

With this delivery, GIL has a current orderbook comprising three PSVs, one second hand and two new buildings to be delivered in H2 FY 2006-07 and Q2 and Q3 of FY 2008-09 respectively.

UNI