SCI Disinvestment: Govt has received multiple EoIs, says DIPAM Secretary

• The SCI disinvestment process has elicited interest from a number of players including, Essar Shipping, Adani, Vedanta, GE Shipping and Dubai Port World, said sources

• The government's stake constitutes 63.75 percent of SCI's equity share capital and all of it is to be sold along with the transfer of management control to a strategic investor

New Delhi: (Disinvestment news) The government has received multiple Expressions of Interest (EoI) for the disinvestment of state-run Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), said Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Monday. The deadline for the submission of EoIs for the sale of government's 63.75 percent stake in the shipping company closed on Monday. The government had floated a preliminary information memorandum (PIM) on December 22, 2020 and had invited global bids for the process.

"Multiple Expressions of Interest have been received for privatisation of Shipping Corporation of India Limited. The transaction will now move to the second stage," said the DIPAM Secretary in a tweet.

SCI disinvestment: Potential bidders in fray

According to sources aware of the matter, the disinvestment process has elicited interest from a number of players within the country and outside like, Essar Shipping, Adani, Vedanta, GE Shipping and Dubai Port World. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had given an in-principle approval for the strategic divestment of Shipping Corporation in November 2019. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the process got delayed.

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The government's stake constitutes 63.75 percent of SCI's equity share capital and all of it is to be sold along with the transfer of management control to a strategic investor. The government has appointed RBSA capital advisors LLP, as its transaction advisor to advise and manage the strategic disinvestment process.

The backdrop

For the current fiscal, the government had set a disinvestment target of Rs 2.1 lakh crore. However, due to the slow progress made in many of the big-ticket disinvestment plans on account of the COVID-19 pandemic, the target is set to be missed and many of the disinvestments will materialise only in the next fiscal year. For FY22, the Centre is looking to raise Rs 1.75 lakh crore and a number of transactions are in the pipeline — Bharat Petroleum Corporation of India Ltd (BPCL), Air India, SCI, Pawan Hans, BEML, NINL, among others.

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