BPCL dips 5% on profit-booking as govt extends bidding deadline by 2 months

In the past two weeks, the stock of the state-owned oil marketing company has rallied 23 per cent.

Shares of Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) slipped 5 per cent to Rs 432 in the morning trade on the BSE on Thursday after the government for the third time extended the deadline for bidding for the privatisation of India's second-biggest oil refiner by two months to September 30.

In the past two weeks, the stock of the state-owned oil marketing company rallied 23 per cent on the report that the global oil giants are showing interest in the company. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 5.6 per cent during the same period. 

"In view of the further requests received from the Interested Bidders and the prevailing situation arising out of Covid-19, last date and time for submission of expression of interest (EoI) are extended up to September 30, 2020," the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) said in a notice. CLICK HERE FOR RELEASE

First, the EoI submission deadline was May 2, but on March 31 it was extended up to June 13. On May 26, it was extended to July 31 and now it has been extended till September 30. The Cabinet had in November last year approved the sale of government's entire 52.98 per cent stake in BPCL.

“Queries to DIPAM ranged from basics such as BPCL’s credit rating and past capital expenditure (capex) to advance ones like treasury shares treatment, restrictive clauses, bondholder consent, board powers, capital commitments, stakeholder relations, etc. This implies that a bunch of players may be interested, including serious ones,” analysts at Emkay Global Financial Services said in a note dated July 16.

“Reliance Industries can be a serious contender being mostly net debt free now and possibly include BP also as a partner. Other players are Aramco, ADNOC, Rosneft, and ExxonMobil, as per the reports. With RIL deal not progressing, Aramco may now look at BPCL aggressively,” the brokerage said further.

At 09:30 am, BPCL was trading 4 per cent lower at Rs 435 on the BSE, as compared to a 0.65 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. Around 4.7 million equity shares were changing hands on the counter on the NSE and BSE.