At the final stage, the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) withdrew from the tender to purchase the bankrupt private shipyard Reliance Naval and Engineering Ltd, (India, RNEL, formerly part of the Reliance Group), the head of OSK Alexey Rakhmanov told Interfax on Monday.
” Without a detailed technical audit, which we could not implement due to the catastrophic history of the coronavirus in India. We dropped out of this race, but we have other alternatives; we continue to consider them,” he said.
According to Rakhmanov, now the USC is faced with the task of optimizing its presence in India.
“We still need to fulfill the tasks set by the Indian government in the Make in India format; it is inevitable,” said the head of the USC.
USC was considering buying the shipyard Reliance Naval and Engineering, Kommersant reported in July. The shipyard was put up for sale in May 2020 due to financial insolvency.
RNEL shipyard was founded in 1997. It is one of the largest shipyards in India, with a dry dock of 662m by 65m. The company became the first privately-owned shipyard to build ships and vessels for the Indian Navy.
The shipyard and USC have a long history of cooperation. In 2015, RNEL signed an agreement with the Zvezdochka Ship Repair Center to establish a joint venture to repair and modernize diesel-electric submarines. In 2015-2016, RNEL was considered by the corporation as a potential partner for the construction of frigates 11356 for the Indian Navy. Later, a deal was signed with Goa Shipyard Limited.
United Shipbuilding Corporation JSC is 100% in federal ownership. The holding includes about 40 design bureaus and specialized research centers, shipyards, ship repair and engineering enterprises.
APM Terminals, Jindal Steel & Power, and a grouping comprising Turkey’s Besiktas Shipyard and Dubai’s GMShave submitted the bids. Twelve companies has initially expressed interest in acquiring Reliance Naval. 15th August was the deadline to submit the final bids.