To vet three EoIs BPCL bid evaluation committee to meet today

• BPCL bid evaluation committee to meet on Tuesday to vet the three EoIs

• Vedanta, Apollo Global and I Squared Capital's arm Think Gas has submitted EoIs to buy BPCL

New Delhi: (BPCL Disinvestment update) The BPCL bid evaluation committee will meet on Tuesday to vet three EoIs received for BPCL privatisation. Vedanta, Apollo Global and I Squared Capital's arm Think Gas has submitted EoIs to buy government's 52.98 percent stake in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL). The high-powered committee which includes officials of the ministry of petroleum and natural gas (MoPNG) and Department of investment and public asset management (DIPAM) will evaluate the strategy for valuation of BPCL.

An inter-ministerial meet was held to discuss the BPCL valuation process and the setting of the reserve price. On Tuesday, the panel will see transaction advisor Deloitte's report on the scrutiny of the three bids that were received at the close of bidding last month, news agency PTI reported. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has been asked to give its views on the response and the process so far.

A special purpose vehicle floated by Vedanta Ltd and its London-based parent Vedanta Resources had submitted an expression of interest (EoI) right before the close of the deadline on November 16. Another bidder, New York-based Apollo Global Management Inc is a global alternative investment management firm and I Squared Capital is a private equity firm focusing on global infrastructure investments.

I Squared Capital invests in energy, utilities, transport and telecom projects in North America, Europe and select high growth economies such as India and China. The government is selling its entire 52.98 per cent stake in India's second-largest fuel retailer as part of plans to raise a record Rs 2.1 lakh crore from disinvestment proceeds in 2020-21 (April 2020 to March 2021).

ALSO READ: Govt has received 3 EoIs for BPCL; committed to disinvesting shares in PSUs: Pradhan

Speaking in a webinar on December 2 Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had said that there's a "lot of interest" for BPCL. "DIPAM has recently informed market… I think three parties have given EoI for the bidding process,". However, the profit-making central public sector enterprise BPCL has not seen interest from global major oil companies. Commenting on PSU privatisation Pradhan had said that the government is committed to disinvesting its shares in PSUs in order to bring in more professionalism. "The government is committed to offloading its shares from state-owned firms to bring in more professionalism (in these companies). It is committed and keen,"

As part of Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, the government has announced its plan to exit management control from PSUs in non-strategic sectors and to keep one to four PSUs in strategic sectors. However, DIPAM is yet to notify the list of strategic and non-strategic sectors.

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