(PTI)
After several weeks of delay, the government has sent ONGC an information memorandum (IM) based on which the state-owned firm would make an offer to buy majority stake in HPCL, officials said. The Cabinet had on July 19 approved the sale of government’s entire 51.11 per cent stake in Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) to Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) as part of its Rs 72,500 crore disinvestment target for the current fiscal, 2017-18.
Transaction advisors were appointed in August and it was expected that an IM containing detailed information on HPCL’s assets and liabilities would be handed over to ONGC by mid- September so as to help it firm up a value for the stake buy.”In a typical strategic stake sale, the government opens data room for potential acquirer to access information on the target company. But in case of HPCL this is being done on the basis of largely publicly known information that has been put in IM,” an official who wished not to be identified said.
Originally, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) was keen to close the transaction in October or November itself but it managed to send the IM to ONGC only on October 31.
Separately, ONGC Chairman and Managing Director Shashi Shanker said the company is hoping to close the deal by March 31.”We received IM on Tuesday and we would do independent valuation of HPCL,” he told reporters last evening.
