Rishi Agarwal News

The enthusiasm, dedication and passion for ship building have helped ABG Shipyard Ltd remain in the forefront. Speaking to Maritime Reporter & Engineering News, Major Arun Phatak (right) points out that it is more important to be a responsible shipbuilder demonstrating with solid results rather than empty talk. Unruffled by the slump in shipping freight rates, ABG Shipyard Ltd., the largest private shipbuilder in the country, has persisted on a high-growth trajectory. With a record delivery of 158 specialized and sophisticated vessels to date, the versatility of the shipyard and expertise to build a complex and wide range of vessels speaks volumes about ABG’s potential and vibrant track record.

India’s ABG Shipyard Ltd plans to invest to expand capacity to meet the rising global demand for building large cargo carrying ships. After the expansion, the company hopes to build large size ships, including very large crude carriers (VLCCs) at its shipyard located at Magdalla Port in Surat, Gujarat, said Rishi Agarwal, managing director of ABG. A VLCC can typically carry as much as 320,000 tonnes of crude oil. ABG is currently building its second shipyard across 40 acres at Dahej in Gujarat at a cost of Rs950 crore. The first phase of the project will give the company facilities the ability to build eight ships simultaneously, with each ship having a capacity of 120,000 tonnes. These ships will meet growing demand in the dry bulk (cargo) segment.

Tano Capital, LLC has invested $15m in Mumbai-based ABG Motors, a newly created arm of ABG Engineering & Construction, through its affiliate in a private equity transaction. ABG Motors is part of India’s largest private sector shipbuilder, ABG Shipyards, which is owned by entrepreneur Rishi Agarwal. ABG Motors applied the $15 million investment towards its $37m acquisition of Cemp, an Italian manufacturer of flameproof electric motors. ABG Motors will also use some of the proceeds to finance a manufacturing facility for Cemp in Bangalore. The Italian acquisition is partly leveraged with debt coming from Italy’s Interbanker. The deal is unique in that Tano Capital acted both as a private equity investor and as a merchant banker.