The Government on Tuesday extended the last date for submitting expressions of interest (EoI) to participate in disinvestment of BEML (formerly known as Bharat Earth Movers Ltd) to March 22. The earlier due date was Monday, March 1.
The Government has ‘in-principle’ decided to disinvest 26 per cent of the equity share capital of BEML Ltd through strategic disinvestment with the transfer of management control. At present, it holds 54.03 per cent in the company.
After the bids received are evaluated, the Transaction Advisor will directly intimate the shortlisted bidders (SBs) about their qualification for participation in Stage II of the disinvestment process.
Since BEML is a listed entity, acquisition of 26 per cent stake by any investor(s) would trigger a mandatory open offer (obligation for open offer triggers at 25 per cent). Accordingly, the selected investor(s) will be required to make an offer to acquire an additional 26 per cent from public shareholders the moment its shareholding in the company becomes 25 per cent or more.
In 2017, it was decided to separate operational and non-operational land and hive off the non-operational/ surplus land and buildings and keep surplus assets out of the scope of disinvestment. Accordingly, these assets will not be part of the transaction. If the process of hive-off is not completed before the completion of the disinvestment process, then a suitable mechanism will be formulated to ensure that the non-operational surplus land does not form part of the total assets of the company following disinvestment
BEML is CPSE under the Defence Ministry operating three major business segments - Mining & Construction, Defence & Aerospace and Rail & Metro with a ₹10,610-cr order book as on September 30, 2020. It has nine manufacturing units spread over four locations, namely, Bengaluru, Kolar, Mysuru and Palakkad. The company has over 6,200 employees. For the quarter ended September 30, the company’s total income was around ₹670 crore, while its net profit was over ₹18 crore