(LiveMint)
The government may consider two-phased disinvestment for public sector oil refiner and retailer Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), if the initial strategic sale of the entire 53.29% government stake in the company fails to get requisite response.
According to official sources, there is fear that no company, including global majors, may commit to invest close to ₹1 lakh crore required to complete the transanction at one go. Thus, the government may sell half or around 26-27% of its share first and consider complete exit from BPCL at a later stage when the valuation improves after the fund infusion by the strategic investor.
The government has tried this model earlier during the strategic disinvestment of metal and mining PSUs — Hindustan Zinc Ltd and BALCO. Then Atal Bihari Vajpayee government had retained minority shareholding in these PSUs after sale and change of management control.
