The Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation Ltd (PSIDC) will soon sell its 44.26 per cent stake in Punjab Alkalies & Chemicals Ltd (PACL), a BSE-listed company.
Aditya Birla Chemicals (India) Pvt Ltd, Nirma Ltd and Punjab-based Kudos Chemie Ltd are among the four companies that have qualified for picking up the stake.
"The core group constituted for the disinvestment of Punjab government undertaking PACL has considered the expression of interest submitted by the players and approved the pre-qualification of Aditya Birla Chemicals (India) Pvt Ltd, Nirma Ltd, Punjab-based Kudos Chemie Ltd and a consortium of Al Shemail Garments & Perfumes Trading LLC (Lead member 90 per cent) & Avenue Chemicals (P) Ltd," a senior official in the Punjab government told Business Standard.
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"We have asked our global advisor IFCI (Industrial Finance Corporation of India) to ask the bidders to submit the financial bid in a time-bound manner," he said. Besides PSIDC, other stakeholders in PACL are the public (37.52 per cent), corporate bodies (15.78 per cent), mutual funds (0.06 per cent), banks (0.05 per cent), FIIs & NRIs (2.33 per cent) as on March 31 this year.
Insiders said the state government was firm about diluting its undertaking's entire stake in PACL this time. It is pertinent to mention here that this is the fourth time the disinvestment department is undertaking the dilution process. Initially, it was done in 2002, when no company showed interest in purchasing the stake. Later on, in 2005, due to change of government, disinvestment could not take place. The third attempt was in 2010 when the state government received only one bid, which was not in order out of the 13 shortlisted companies.
The company's plant is located at Naya Nangal in Ropar district in Punjab. It is one of the largest manufacturers of caustic soda in India, with an installed capacity of about 99,000 tonnes per annum (tpa). The company is engaged in the manufacture and sale of caustic soda (lye & flakes), liquid chlorine, hydrochloric acid, sodium hypochlorite and hydrogen gas.
According to BSE, the company's revenue was Rs 267.43 crore in 2013-14, compared with Rs 288.99 crore in 2012-13. The company reported a net loss of Rs 9.57 crore in financial year 2013-14 against a net profit of Rs 2.81 crore during the previous year.
Stake dilution
| Punjab Alkalies & Chemicals Ltd (PACL) is a BSE-listed company
| Aditya Birla Chemicals (India) Pvt Ltd, Nirma Ltd and Punjab-based Kudos Chemie Ltd and a consortium of Al Shemail Garments & Perfumes Trading LLC & Avenue Chemicals (Pvt) Ltd are the four companies qualified for picking up the stake
| Besides PSIDC, stakeholders in PACL include the public (37.52 per cent), corporate bodies (15.78 per cent), mutual funds (0.06 per cent), banks (0.05 per cent), FIIs & NRIs (2.33 per cent) as on March 31 this year
