India’s leading private sector shipbuilder, ABG Shipyard Ltd is ready to get hold of the loss-making Western India Shipyard Ltd (WISL), from a group of financial organizations chaired by ICICI Bank Ltd.

WISL is the country’s biggest composite ship and rig repair plant, which is strategically situated at Goa and is geographically best positioned to provide a complete array of ship repair services.

Dhananjay Datar, chief financial officer, ABG Shipyard told that the company would invest Rs25 crore as its direct payment and also help arrange a debt of Rs 120 crore to reconstitute the Rs 250 crore debt of WISL.

ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank, SBI, BoI and Industrial Investment Bank of India possess about 43% of equity in Western India .

The firm’s Goa plant has been a loss-making unit since starting out its functioning in 1996, and the mounting losses, projected at Rs 186 crore, have eaten away the company’s earnings. In the 12 months to March 2007, Western India registered a net loss of Rs 20.74 crore, and in its first quarter of the recent fiscal, it has filed a net loss of Rs2.85 crore.

Mr. Datar said, “Strategically, it is a good buy for us. It is the only specialized ship repair facility in the private sector.”

Lisbon, Portugal-based ship repairer Lisnave Shipyards SA provided the design, layout and equipment of Western India.

Western India’s facility can mend ships of up to 60,000 tonnes capacity and house ships up to 225m in length and 32.5m in breadth. It can also construct ships.

In a statement, Rishi Agarwal, Managing Director, ABG stated, “We foresee a great opportunity in the rig and ship repairing business in coming years. With Western India having advanced ship repairing facilities, there would be a great synergy between both ABG and WISL.”

The ABG and Western India boards assembled separately on Wednesday and sanctioned the debt recast plan, subject to legal approval.