You’d be forgiven for thinking South Korea’s Hanwha had a binding deal, an independent expert report, a shareholder vote, foreign investment clearance and the whole kitchen sink of deal approvals to buy shipbuilder Austal’s US business, the way Austal boss Paddy Gregg was talking about it on Monday.Fronting shareholders for the first time since announcing the up to $US1.2 billion ($1.7 billion) non-binding offer, Gregg was happy to give a view on how likely the confidential talks would progress (“there is great momentum behind it”), Hanwha as a bidder (“they’re very different to a private equity approach”), what it meant for the US (“a win for war fighters”) and what Austal’s life could be like as Australia’s cashed-up sovereign shipbuilder (“having those funds available at a time whenever there’s significant growth in Australasia would be very helpful indeed”).Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Fetching latest articles