No firm evinces interest to manage divestment of 3 SAIL units

SAIL's effort to engage a transaction advisor for managing the divestment process of its three units suffered a jolt as no company showed interest in the Request for Proposal (RFP) invited by the PSU.
Steel Authority of India (SAIL) had in February invited proposal for engagement of the transaction officer for strategic divestment of three units of the PSU. The last date for the submission of bids was April 3. But, no company evinced interest in RFP, an official privy to the development said.
SAIL has proposed to engage the transaction advisor from a reputed professional consulting firm, investment bankers, merchant bankers, financial institutions, banks, etc for providing advisory services and managing the disinvestment process.

The advisor will also undertake tasks related to all aspects of the strategic disinvestment culminating into successful completion of the transaction.
The advisor will also advice SAIL on the modalities and the timing of the strategic disinvestment, and prepare and submit a detailed operational scheme to successfully implement the stake sale process, including tentative timelines for each activity.
It will also finalise the process of strategic disinvestment, among others.

The due date for opening the bid was April 3, the official said, adding "due to poor response it was decided to extend the date of the RFP to April 17".

The government had in-principle decided for strategic disinvestment of Alloy Steels Plant, Durgapur (ASP), Salem Steel Plant, Salem (SSP) and Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant, Bhadrawati(VISP) of Steel Authority of India with transfer of management control.
The government currently holds 75 per cent stake in SAIL, which is the largest steel producer in India with a turnover of Rs 43,337 crore in 2015-16 and its paid-up capital stood at Rs 4,130 crore.
Apart from the three special steel plants, SAIL owns and operates five integrated steel plants in Bhilai, Rourkela, Durgapur, Bokaro and Burnpur. It has a refractory unit in Bokaro and Chandrapur Ferro Alloy Plant in Maharashtra.

In addition, it operates nine iron ore, three limestone, three dolomite and three coal mines for captive consumption.