The authorities has obtained an undisclosed variety of monetary bids on the market of its stake in ailing helicopter operator Pawan Hans, transferring the divestment course of to the final stage.
“The monetary bids for Pawan Hans disinvestment have been obtained by the transaction advisor. The course of now moves to a concluding stage, DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey tweeted.
He, nonetheless, didn’t disclose the variety of bidders.
The authorities is promoting its total 51 per cent stake in Pawan Hans. State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), which holds the remaining 49 per cent, has additionally supplied its total shareholding within the firm on the market together with the federal government stake.
Set up in 1985, Pawan Hans has a fleet of over 40 helicopters and over 900 workers, lower than half of them on everlasting roles. It offers helicopter providers for the exploration actions of ONGC and to India’s northeast.
For 2019-20, the corporate reported a internet lack of Rs 28 crore, decrease than Rs 69 crore within the earlier yr. As on March 31, 2020, its authorised capital stood at Rs 560 crore and paid-up share capital at Rs 557 crore.
In 2018, the federal government had invited bids to promote its stake in Pawan Hans. However, the method was withdrawn after ONGC determined to promote its 49 per cent stake within the firm together with the federal government’s. In 2019, a second try was made to promote the corporate however it failed to obtain investor response.
Last yr, the federal government sweetened the phrases, lowering the minimal internet value for potential bidders and the lock-in interval of funding and permitting the profitable bidder to promote belongings after a yr. Previously, the sale phrases allowed the profitable bidder belongings two yr after acquisition.
Also, a change in shareholding amongst consortium companions was permitted, offered the lead investor holds a minimal of 26 per cent stake and different members maintain no less than 10 per cent every. The lock-in interval for funding was additionally decreased to one yr from three years earlier.
However, a brand new clause of enterprise continuity was added to make sure that the profitable bidder won’t liquidate or shut down the enterprise for 3 years. The minimal internet value of bidders has additionally been decreased to Rs 300 crore from Rs 350 crore earlier and the profitability standards has been abolished to improve the universe of the bidders.
In February this yr, the federal government obtained a number of preliminary bids for its privatisation course of. The bidders thereafter did due diligence of the corporate and have now submitted monetary or value bids.
The disinvestment is a part of the Rs 1.75 lakh crore income mobilisation goal set by the federal government for the 2021-22 (April 2021 to March 2022) fiscal yr. So far, the federal government has garnered Rs 9,330 crore from minority stake gross sales.
In October, the federal government bought Air India to Tata Group at an enterprise worth of Rs 18,000 crore, the primary main privatisation step in about 20 years. The authorities will get Rs 2,700 crore money from Tatas on the market of its 100 per cent stake.
(Only the headline and movie of this report might have been reworked by the Business Standard workers; the remainder of the content material is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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