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| HPCL to announce offer for Birla stake in MRPL within 10 days | | | / Business Standard November 21,2001 | | | |
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| Hpcl To Announce Offer For Birla Stake In Mrpl Within 10 Days |
| / BUSINESS STANDARD Nov 21, 2001, 00:00 IST |
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Petroleum minister Ram Naik today expressed hope that the dispute over the purchase of the Aditya Birla group’s stake in Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) will be settled within a month.
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| Naik, who had an hour-long meeting with Aditya Birla group (AV Birla group) chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla and senior officials of HPCL , said the HPCL board will discuss the issue and come up with an offer within ten days. The AV Birla group will then consider the proposal and give its opinion to the government within seven days.
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“I am sure that the issue will be resolved by December 20,” the minister told newsmen after the meeting. Naik said the pricing of the MRPL shares was the main outstanding issue. In case HPCL’s offer was not acceptable to the Birlas, the latter would be free to sell its stake to anyone else.
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The proposed sale of the AV Birla group’s 37.5 per cent stake in the loss-making MRPL has run into rough weather with the HPCL board raising objections regarding the valuation of the shares.
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While SBI Caps and Arthur Andersen, the independent valuers jointly appointed by the two partners, fixed the value in the range of Rs 14-17 per share, HPCL is learnt to have indicated that it wants to pay the market price of around Rs 7 per share.
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The ongoing rift between the two promoters over the sale of the shares has also stalled MRPL’s debt restructuring programme. Financial institutions are understood to have decided to approve the plan outlay only after the stake sale issue is resolved.
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