IOC sole bidder for Haldia Petrochemicals stake

State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), which already owns more than eight per cent in Haldia Petrochemicals Limited (HPL), today emerged as the sole bidder with an offer of less than Rs 3,000 crore for West Bengal government's stake in the ailing company.
The state government, however, decided not to open the bid pending further discussions between the Group of Ministers (GoM) on the sole bid.
State industry minister Partha Chatterjee told reporters here "the bid has not been opened. We are not in a hurry. We want to do transaction in a transparent manner".
A source associated with today's development told PTI that the government has four days time to open the bid. "Before that, the GoM will have to decide on the reserve price".

Although five companies, IOC, GAIL, ONGC, Reliance Industries and Cairn India, have emerged as qualified bidders for nearly 40 per cent of the government's stake in HPL, only IOC submitted its bid since morning.
Chatterjee, state finance minister Amit Mitra, panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee and power minister Manish Gupta, all members of the GoM, were present when the process started at WBIDC office. Representatives from Reliance Industries were present, but did not participate in the bid.

Government decided to sell its stake in HPL, following which Deloitte was appointed as the transactional adviser.
Purnendu Chatterjee-led The Chatterjee Group (TCG), a joint promoter of HPL, will have the right of first refusal over the West Bengal government's stake. TCG will have 30 days to match the highest bid and another month to make payments.

West Bengal government holds 39.99 per cent stake in HPL.
While TCG holds 40.88 per cent. IOC has an 8.89 per cent stake as a strategic investor and the rest is with financial institutions and Tata Group firms -Tata Motors and Tata Power.
HPL had an accumulated loss of Rs 1,980 crore at the end of March 31, 2012, and debt topping Rs 3,500 crore.
The plant, located 125 km from Kolkata at Haldia, operates at about 65 per cent of installed capacity.