Having kept everyone in suspense for two days, West Bengal, on Wednesday, opened sole bidder IndianOil’s offer for acquiring the State’s share in Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL). According to State Commerce and Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee, the decision on Monday’s bidding round will be made public tomorrow.
Though Chatterjee denied opening the bid, sources in IndianOil confirmed the development. The bid value is not yet known.
West Bengal owns nearly 40 per cent stake in HPL. This includes 9 per cent holding, disputed by the private promoter The Chatterjee Group (TCG). A decision on the disputed shares is pending Supreme Court’s verdict.
IndianOil currently owns nearly 9 per cent stake in the project.
Affected by the prolonged rivalry between the two promoters and lack of fund infusion, the naphtha-based refinery has already eroded its net worth and has run out of money to buy feedstock.
While West Bengal expressed its keenness to divest its stake in the company in the past, the effort remained unsuccessful due to objections from the TCG group, holding nearly 41 per cent stake in the company.
Armed with a ‘first right of refusal’ TCG wanted to acquire the shares at a ‘fair value’ to be decided by a consultant.
Finally, the Mamata Banerjee-led Government decided to hold a bidding round to discover the price of its holdings in the petrochemicals project.
If IndianOil’s bid is accepted, the State will first offer the shares to TCG, at the discovered price. If TCG fails or denies to take the shares at the discovered price, IndianOil will be awarded the stake.