NEW DELHI: The Central government has extended the initial bid submission deadline for the divestment of chopper services company Pawan Hans Ltd (PHL).
According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the time period for submission of EOI (Expression of Interest) has been extended up to September 19, 2018 from the earlier date of September 12. “The last date for submission of EOI for Strategic Disinvestment of PHL, in response to the addendum to the Preliminary Information Memorandum (PIM) issued on August 15, 2018, in continuation to the PIM issued on April 14, 2018 and corrigendum to the PIM issued on May 31, 2018, has been extended up to September 19, 2018,” the Ministry has said in a notice posted on its website on September 11.
“Timelines for all other subsequent activities will change accordingly.”
On April 13, the Central government had invited ‘Expression of Interest’ to divest its 51 per cent stake in chopper services company. The Preliminary Information Memorandum (PIM) inviting the EoI for the strategic divestment was issued on April 13, only days after the government had withdrawn an earlier PIM for the proposed divestment. The Central government owns 51 per cent equity of the company, while ONGC holds the rest 49 per cent stake.
Last month, the ministry in an addendum to PIM said that ONGC “vide its board resolution dated August 2, 2018, has communicated its intent to offload its entire shareholding of 49 per cent in PHL”. “In light of this development, an Addendum to PIM is being issued to provide all potential and existing bidders an opportunity to participate in the disinvestment process,” the ministry had said. PHL was set up as a public sector undertaking under the administrative control of the Ministry of Civil Aviation to primarily provide helicopter services for the exploration activities of ONGC and to the northeast region. (IANS)