Vijay Sheth to remain MD of Great Offshore

Vijay Sheth, managing director of Great Offshore, which was formed after the demerger of Great Eastern Shipping Company's shipping and offshore businesses in 2005, will continue to remain at the helm.

"The Sheth family, which owns 28 per cent of GE Shipping, has no intention of removing him from that post," a family source said.

The source trashed reports that Bharat Seth and his brother Ravi Sheth (both of GE Shipping ), were planning to bring in a professional to run Great Offshore and oust Vijay Sheth.

"The reports are nothing but fiction," the source said, adding the next board meeting on March 21 had been called only to consider payment of an interim dividend.

The source said Bharat and Ravi Sheth had excellent relations with their cousin Vijay and had "zero intention" of ousting him.

"In any case, they didn't need to go through the demerger route to oust Vijay since they had majority shareholding anyway. As far as they are concerned, Vijay was and will remain the boss of the offshore company," it was said.

Vijay Sheth could not be reached for comments.

The demerger, the family sources said, was created to unlock shareholder value and put more focus on a business which had great potential. Worldwide, offshore multiples are higher than shipping multiples in the stock markets. "It's wrong to reduce the demerger decision to a conspiracy theory," the source said.

Commenting on GE Shipping's decision to float a new offshore subsidiary, Greatship India, the source said the worldwide market was large enough for many more such entities.

(GE Shipping has a minority stake in Business Standard Limited, which publishes this newspaper.)