crunch time!...

crunch time!


https://thewest.com.au/business/con...s-patrol-vessel-selection-looms-ng-b88667907z

Austal halts trading as patrol vessel selection looms

Peter Williams and Nick Evans
Wednesday, 22 November 2017 11:04AM

Austal Chairman John Rothwell and chief executive David Singleton. SimonPicture: Simon Santi/The West Australian
WA shipbuilder Austal has put its shares in a trading halt ahead of an anticipated announcement about the $3 billion offshore patrol vessel program.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s powerful National Security Committee sat yesterday to mull the Defence Department’s recommendation regarding the program’s three bids.

Austal has partnered with German design bidder Fassmer to build the 12 vessels for the Royal Australian Navy.
“Austal Limited requests a trading halt in its securities pending an announcement in relation to a material government shipbuilding contract,” the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange said.
Under ASX rules, the shares will be halted until Friday morning or when the OPV announcement is made.
Austal share’s were down 5¢, or 2.9 per cent, to $1.675 when trading stopped at 10.35am.
Its local rival for the contract is a tie-up between WA engineering company Civmec and Government shipbuilder ASC.

Henderson-based Civmec and ASC are partners in the other two bids with Germany’s Luerssen and Damen of the Netherlands.
Civmec has not suspended trading in its Singapore-listed shares today.
The winning partners will build two of the vessels in South Australia from next year and the remaining 10 in WA from 2020.
The contract, although only a small portion of the Government’s $90 billion naval shipbuilding program, promises to be a substantial boost for WA’s economy.
The protracted assessment of the rival bids has led to a frenzy of back-seat commentary in Canberra’s defence circles, including suggestions the assessment panel preferred a designer from one bid and a builder from a rival offering, or that all three offerings had potentially critical flaws.