(ET)
The government is likely to issue Expression of Interest for privatisation of Air India and BPCL in January.
“We are working towards issuing EoIs for Air India first and then BPCL in January and should be able to do it. If we are to sell them in March, at least backwards two months are needed for the bidders to do due diligence. Big assets like BPCL will take time as due diligence has be carried out,” a senior Finance Ministry official said here. BPCL has a market cap of Rs 1.06 lakh crore. Before the sale, the government is looking to shift more debt from the balance sheet of disinvestment-bound Air India to asset holding company AIAHL to further sweeten the deal for prospective buyers, according to officials.
