(ET)
Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta Group and two overseas funds are said to be among suitors for state-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), which the government is seeking to privatize.
Government sources told that Vedanta is among the “multiple suitors” for the oil marketing company. The names of the two funds were not immediately known. The government and transaction advisor Deloitte have so far not disclosed names of the entities that have evinced interest. The deadline for submitting an expression of interest ended Monday evening. Several top oil companies have stayed out of the race.
Vedanta, which had focused on the metals space, expanded into energy through the acquisition of Cairn, a major contributor to India’s domestic crude production. Domestic production, however, accounts for just around a fifth of the entire oil consumption in the country.
