As the privatisation of Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) is getting delayed, one of the bidders – US based Safesea that was shortlisted for bidding has turned its focus on Ceylon Shipping Corporation, a government of Sri Lanka-owned company and has made a proposal to acquire a 40% stake in the company by entering into a JV.
Safesea has proposed that Ceylon Shipping Corporation could be run in a public-private partnership model.
People familiar with the proposal have informed that Safesea has proposed to acquire about 40% stake in Ceylon Shipping Corporation while the Sri Lankan government will hold another 40% stake. It has proposed that 20% stake will be offloaded to public investors. No financial aspects have been mentioned in the proposal because the talks are said to be preliminary phase.
“We have received Safesea’s proposal. It is in the interest of the company. But we will have to approach the relevant ministry for taking it forward,” said WS Weeraman, chairman of Ceylon Shipping Corporation.
