WB govt assured 155 mn shares belonged to them: IOC

State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has rued that the West Bengal government has assured prospective bidders that the contentious bundle of 155 million shares of Haldia Petrochemicals belonged to them, which was coming in the way of closing the transaction process.

"The West Bengal government had assured prospective bidders in the pre-bid meeting that there was no issue relating to 155 million shares and the bundle was in their custody," a senior IOC official told PTI.

Although IOC turned out to the single valid bidder for buying out West Bengal government's shares in the financially-troubled Haldia Petrochemicals, the transaction process was stalled with the other promoter TCG moving court claiming its rights over 155 million shares.

The official said that although the bid was submitted late October last year with a price of Rs 25.10 per share, the PSU was now in a fix over non-closure of the transaction.

IOC already holds around nine per cent stake in the company.

Asked whether IOC was still interested in Haldia Petrochemicals, the official said that the company did have a promise of giving good synergy to its existing refinery at Haldia.

The official also said what was more surprising was that there was not a single communication so far to them since the submission of the bid.

"We had written to the state government asking about the status, but there is no reply so far," the official said.

The official said that the transactional adviser Deloitte would now have to take a call on the transaction closure.