Chatterjee Group-Haldia Petro deal gets CCI nod

Competition Commission has cleared Chatterjee Group's proposal to hike its stake in Haldia Petrochemicals by acquiring shares from West Bengal Industrial Development Corp.
The proposed combination is not likely to have appreciable adverse effect on competition in India, the fair trade watchdog said in its order.
Under the deal, Essex Development Investments (Mauritius) Ltd would acquire 15.4 per cent stake in Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) from West Bengal Industrial Development Corp Ltd.
Essex is part of Chatterjee Group -- which through its affiliate/associate companies namely Chatterjee Petrochem (Mauritius) Company, India Trade (Mauritius) Ltd and Winstar India Investment Company Ltd, PCC holds 39.54 per cent stake in HPL.

Post the deal, Chatterjee Group's overall shareholding in HPL would increase to about 55 per cent.
HPL is into manufacture and sale of petrochemical related products. Essex is an investment company while Chatterjee Group has diversified interests including in real estate, life sciences and information technology.
"... It is observed that the proposed combination would result in sole control of Chatterjee Group over HPL. Further, none of companies belonging to Chatterjee Group including Essex and CPMC, or their portfolio companies have any other investment in the petrochemical industry apart from HPL.
"Therefore, there is no horizontal overlap or vertical arrangement between HPL and CPMC, Essex or Chatterjee Group," according to Competition Commission of India's (CCI) order dated December 5 and made public today.