(ET)
State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp may sell some of its stake in Indian Oil Corp and gas utility GAIL India to part fund its over Rs 32,000 crore acquisition of refiner HPCL, Chairman DK Sarraf said. ONGC holds 13.77 per cent stake in India’s biggest refiner IOC, which at today’s market price is worth about Rs 26,600 crore. It has another 4.87 per cent stake in GAIL India Ltd, worth Rs 1,637 crore.
“We have several options to fund the the acquisition of government’s 51.11 per cent stake in HPCL. On a standalone basis we are debt free and so we can borrow from the market. Also, we have certain investments (in other oil companies) which can be sold,” he told reporters last night. The company’s shareholders yesterday allowed it to raise up to Rs 25,000 crore debt, he said, adding that the company had about Rs 10,000 crore of cash in hand.
