BPCL disinvestment: Govt officially aborts plan as bidders pull out

• The Alternative Mechanism for BPCL disinvestment has decided to call off the present EoI process for the strategic disinvestment of BPCL, said DIPAM
• Decision on the re-initiation of the strategic disinvestment process of BPCL will be taken in due course based on review of situation, it added

New Delhi: The government has officially announced on Thursday its decision to scrap the BPCL disinvestment process since interested bidders have expressed their inability to continue with the process. According to a notification released by the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), the Alternative Mechanism (Empowered Group of Ministers) for BPCL disinvestment has "decided to call off the present EoI process for the strategic disinvestment of BPCL and the EoIs received from QIPs shall stand cancelled."

Re-initiation of BPCL disinvestment

DIPAM said that due to the prevailing conditions in the global energy market, bidders have pulled out of the BPCL privatisation process. "… the multiple Covid-19 waves and geo-political conditions affected multiple industries globally, particularly oil and gas industry. Owing to prevailing conditions in the global energy market, the majority of QIPs have expressed their inability to continue in the current process of disinvestment of BPCL," said the nodal department responsible for taking decision related to PSU disinvestment.

"Decision on the re-initiation of the strategic disinvestment process of BPCL will be taken in due course based on review of situation," it added.

Background

DIPAM had issued a global invitation on March 7, 2020 for Expression of Interest (EoI) for the strategic disinvestment of 1,14,91,83,592 equity shares which constitutes 52.98 percent equity share capital held by the government in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited.

Immediately, post invitation for EoI, due to Covid-19 pandemic, the EoI submission date had to be extended multiple times to address the constraints faced by potential bidders. In response to the invitation, multiple EoIs were received from interested parties, said DIPAM. Qualified Interested Parties (QIPs) had initiated due diligence on the company before pulling out of the process.

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