State-promoted Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) will acquire 65.12 per cent in Gujarat Gas Company Ltd (GGCL) for Rs 2,464 crore.
GSPC, along with its affiliates in the Group, signed definitive agreements on Wednesday for buying the stake from the BG Group, said Tapan Ray, Managing Director of GSPC Group.
BG’s shareholding is being acquired by Gujarat Distribution Networks Ltd (GDNL), in which the GSPC Group holds 100 per cent stake.
The acquisition is being made at Rs 295 a share. GDNL will pay Rs 2,463.80 crore to BG for the deal, subject to the customary regulatory approvals.
Ray said the deal would expand GSPC Group’s presence in Gujarat. “The acquisition is in the long-term interest of the industrial and retail customers of Gujarat.”
The acquisition, he said, is consistent with GSPC’s objective of expanding its presence in upstream and downstream segments of the energy value chain.
The Berkshire-headquartered BG Group Plc (formerly British Gas) had decided to divest its stake in GGCL, India’s largest and oldest private sector city gas distribution company, in November 2011. The UK-based company had acquired interest in GGCL from Gujarat Industrial Investment Corporation (GIIC) and Mafatlal Group in 1997 for Rs 170 crore.
Currently, GGCL caters to about four lakh industrial, retail and domestic consumers in Gujarat.
A number of hydrocarbon majors, including GAIL (India), were in the fray to buy a majority stake in GGCL.