AZB, Kanga and Luthra embroiled in hostile Great Offshore bid

Friday, 10 July 2009 By Kian Ganz Corporate M&A

Kanga & Co Mumbai partner Dhaval Vussonji is leading the team for the original bidder Bharati Shipyard, which already owns a 19.5 per cent stake in Great Offshore.

AZB Mumbai partner Shuva Mandal is leading the legal team for ABG Shipyard, which made a hostile counter-bid for Great Offshore at the end of June.

ABG’s offer resulted in Bharati Shipyard raising its bid, as ABG is considering re-raising its open offer price, according to Exim News Service today.

Great Offshore has not instructed external counsel, with the legal team being led by its assistant general manager for legal Bharati Srinivasan.

Luthra & Luthra group head Bikash Jhawar is advising Great Offshore’s erstwhile promoter Vijay Sheth, who still retains management control of the company.

Sheth lost equity control of his company after a Bharati Shipyard subsidiary acquired a stake of nearly 15 per cent of Great Offshore in May 2009. Sheth had sold the shares he had personally pledged, diluting his shareholding to less than 1 per cent.

Luthra & Luthra founding partner Rajiv Luthra was a former board member of Great Offshore but resigned his position on 10 April 2009.

Luthra & Luthra has acted on much of the company’s legal work in the past, most notably on the planned $1.4bn acquisition of an undisclosed overseas oil services company.

All parties and law firms declined to comment on the transaction.

AZB & Partners Kanga & Co Luthra & Luthra ABG Shipyard Bharati Shipyard Great Offshore Dhaval Vussonji Shuva Mandal Bharati Srinivasan hostile takeover M&A deals L&L Partners

Comments

indialegalpublication 10 Jul 2009, 19:02

+0 -0

Have you done any research on this story? It seems that you are baking pies in the sky. When did Bikas Jhawar become 'partner' Luthra & Luthra? Also did Luthra really working on the core part of acquisition relating to overseas oil services companies on behalf of Great Offshore.

Overall, this story to me does not make any iota of sense. Most of the facts are inaccurate. Please do a thorough fact check.

Kian Ganz, editor 11 Jul 2009, 07:52

Thanks for letting us know.

Bikas Jhawar is indeed a 'group head', not a partner.

We stand by the rest of the story, which has been confirmed from a large number of independent sources.

If "most of the facts are inaccurate", as you write, please do let us know which parts of the story you think are wrong.

bebo 11 Jul 2009, 08:45

Very simple - there is no USD 1.4 billion acquisition that Great Offshore has done it means doing a deal which is 4 times its market cap. Do you even know what this editor is talking - just thinks can open a website and say anything he wants - why doesnt he put up the USD 1.4 billion acquisition - surely it should be on the BSE and NSE details - total bull

look at the simple contradictions "promoter Vijay Sheth, who still retains management control of the company" the very next sentence is " Sheth lost control of his company after a Bharati Shipyard subsidiary acquired..."

make up your mind ...and do some research - by opening a website - you dont become a 'legally india'

Kian Ganz, editor 11 Jul 2009, 09:14

Bebo,

Thanks for your comment.

A link to a Bloomberg article on the $1.4bn acquisition was included in the original story. To an extent we will rely on information provided by reputable third party news sources in our reporting. If we do so, we will always provide a link to the original story so the reader can make up their own mind.
( http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aZFF59USqZhs&refer=india )

Sheth currently only has management control but does not have control of the equity anymore. A link to a Mint article explaining this in more detail was also included in the original story.
( http://www.livemint.com/2009/05/07233143/Vijay-Sheth-loses-control-of-G.html )

We have added "equity" before control to clarify the meaning of the paragraph.

Best regards,
Kian Ganz, editor

Bob 13 Jul 2009, 02:53

Have a look at these links. It seems that the 1.4bn deal had lapsed last year, but Great Offshore had never publicly declared which company were they planning to acquire.

http://www.blonnet.com/2008/08/21/stories/2008082152220200.htm

http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article161434.ece

legal guy 13 Jul 2009, 14:04

The offshore Company was Red Sea Dragon a Cayman Island Entity. The deal never got completed cause Great Offshore was not able to secure all the finance.

Kian please check the facts wit related people, Luthra can not claim that they have done the deal.

Kian Ganz, editor 13 Jul 2009, 16:07

Thank you for your comments, you are correct, that particular deal did not close.

Luthra did not claim to have done that $1.4bn deal but other media has reported widely that Luthra & Luthra and Great Offshore have worked together on several transactions in the past, before Bharati bought its share in Great Offshore.

bebo 13 Jul 2009, 20:37

hey kian, do you run this website based on some news articles and search engine help. If thats how you earn your bread - its a real tragedy. You possibly dont aim to run a legal website - trying to run the gossip on indian legal fraternity based on such poor research and that too with no insider view but a mere mindless cut and paste from newspapers -

you look like a plucked chicken...

Kian Ganz, editor 13 Jul 2009, 21:04

Dear Bebo,

Thanks again for your comment.

At the risk of repeating myself, yes, to a certain extent we have to rely on what has been reported by reputable news sources elsewhere, as all journalists do.

In this case, Luthra & Luthra has advised Great Offshore in the past on several transactions, including the $1.4bn one reported by Bloomberg, despite it ultimately not closing.

Unfortunately we can not re-investigate every historic news story that has been written before Legally India started. However, as stated before, we aim to confirm as many details as possible and will clearly provide you with the original source and link so you can make up your own mind about the background used in stories.

Bebo, if you are interested in providing constructive criticism on how we can improve our coverage, I do invite you to send us an email or to give me a call any time.

I will be happy to discuss your thoughts with you then in more detail.

Best regards,
Kian

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