'Adequate interest for BPCL disinvestment, no need to alter sale process'

NEW DELHI: The government has said that adequate interest has been received for the strategic disinvestment of public sector refiner Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) with several suitors submitting expressions of interest (EoI).

The transaction will move to the second stage after scrutiny by the transaction adviser, said a tweet from the Twitter handle of the Secretary of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM).

"For the strategic disinvestment of BPCL, multiple expressions of interest have been received by the transaction advisor. The transaction will move to the second stage after scrutiny by the TA," it said.

With this, there is no need to either defer the current strategic sale process or look for alternatives, as after the scrutiny of the eligibility of the bidders, the process would reach the price bid stage and finally the winning bidder would be decided, government officials involved in the process said.

Sources said that though multiple bids have been received, major energy giants including Reliance Industries, Saudi Aramco, UAE's Adnoc and UK's BP have not placed interest for the state-run oil major. This may lower competition and may impact valuations. The government also does not want to sell its prized oil entity at lower valuations. (IANS)

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