Processing .....please wait.. 
The article has been forwarded.... 
Siva buys out Norwegian shipping company
By siliconindia
|
Thursday, 21 February 2008, 01:15 IST
Mumbai: S Sivasankaran, an NRI Business tycoon, has acquired a Norwegian shipping firm JB Ugland Shipping (JBUS) for $300 million (Rs 1,200 crore), through his flagship company Siva Ventures. In 2005, Sivasankaran had created a corporate sensation by selling his telecom business Aircel to Maxis of Malaysia for $800 million, reported The Economic Times.
Siva Ventures, which controls one of the leading domestic telcom firms Sterling Infotech, has a turnover of $2 billion and business interests across sectors like media, bio-fuels, wind energy and real estate. The transaction was agreed in January 2008 and closed on February 15 in the same year.
Confirming the development, C Sivasankaran, Group Chairman, Sterling Infotech said, "For shipping of bulk commodities, the demand from India is likely to see explosive growth on the backdrop of increased raw material demand for the new power and oil refining projects coming up in India, a large number of which are based on imported raw materials."
Incumbent management of JBUS, led by its CEO Bjorn Bergsland, will continue to manage the company, said sources. As part of the deal, the company has the rights to use the brand name of JBUS for three years and will continue trading under the JB Ugland name following the acquisition. Standard Chartered Bank advised Siva Ventures on the deal while JBUS was advised by Pareto, a leading Norwegian investment bank.
V Srinivasan, group CEO, Siva Ventures, said shipping is a new growth sector identified by the group. He added that JBUS is a profit-making company and is expected to close the current year with revenues of $150 million.
Headquartered in Norway, the company has a fleet of 40 owned and long-time chartered vessels with an aggregate capacity of approximately two million deadweight tonnage (DWT).