ICICI to pick up stake in Tebma

ICICI Ventures is close to picking up Rs 100 crore stake in Chennai-based mid-sized shipbuilder Tebma Shipping. Tebma, which is a Rs 300 crore company, supplies to the Navy and is the only builder of dredging ships in India. It is expanding into tugs and naval ships. The shipyard has an order book of Rs 1,400 crore while the 2005-06 profits stood at Rs 12 crore.

The deal, to be announced soon, would involve Rs 60 crore in cash. The rest 40 crore would be through an open offer. Tebma has a co-operation arrangement with the Dutch shipbuilder Damen Shipyards and is capable of constructing tugs up to 45-50 tonne bollard pull capacity.

India’s shipbuilding currently consists of 24 shipyards in India in medium and small category. Capacity of all Indian shipyards put together is close to 0.19 million Compensated Gross Tonnage (CGT) per year, according to industry estimates. Compared to the world new building capacity of 23 million CGT, India’s share is less than 1%.

The deal comes close on the heels of decision of L&T, India’s largest construction company, to set up India’s largest ship building yard in Chennai.