JIM McColl has revealed Clyde Blowers Capital is prepared to invest £50 million as it seeks to revive the fortunes of the Ferguson shipyard in Inverclyde.
The wealthy industrialist, whose investment company rescued Ferguson from administration in September, previously signalled the fund had earmarked up to £8m to restore the yard.
Around half of that figure was needed to buy the business, deal with losses and provide working capital, while an extra £3m to £4m has been set aside to build new offices, acquire new cranes and other manufacturing infrastructure.
Now Mr McColl is saying Clyde Blowers is ready to invest as much as £50m in the project.
Mr McColl, one of Scotland's most successful businessmen, immediately re-hired the yard's 70-strong workforce after taking control.
Having quickly won a £12.3m contract to build a hybrid ferry from Caledonian Maritime Assets (CMAL, the workforce is on track to increase to 120.
And Mr McColl said last week the headcount could quickly rise to 400 if the relaunched Ferguson Marine Engineering is successful in bidding for two 100 metre ferries from CMAL. Decisions on those tenders are expected to be announced this month.
Mr McColl, whose company specialises in turning around struggling engineering concerns, sees big potential for Ferguson in building vessels for a range of sectors, including oil and gas support ships, as well as in offshore structures for this industries.
He sees no reason why Scotland should not rival shipbuilders in European countries such as Germany, Poland and Turkey. However he conceded those companies have an advantage in being able to access state export financing, which is not currently permitted in the UK.
On the current CMAL tenders, Mr McColl said: "We're up against [shipbuilders in] Turkey, Germany and Poland. They have an advantage, but we will find a way around it."
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