Pipavav Defence Offshore offloads 10% stake to Northrop Grumman
23 Nov 2011
Mumbai: Pipavav Defence & Offshore Engineering, formerly Pipavav Shipyard, will sell a 10% stake for Rs600 crore to a global aerospace and defence technology company. The company is expected to provide critical technology necessary to manufacture equipment for the armed forces.
Pipavav expects to finalise the deal by December this year. The company remains unidentified.
Market speculation says the most likely candidate is the American defence contractor Northrop Grumman.
Pipavav Defence will issue 81.9 million shares on a preferential basis to an international strategic investor for Rs110 a piece, the company said in a regulatory filing, without divulging the identity of the buyer.
On receipt of news shares of the company went up 10%, to hit Rs62.
"We will clinch the deal with the investor by December this year," says Nikhil Gandhi, chairman, Pipavav. "All I can say is that the investor is one of the world's biggest defence conglomerates."
