All the topline merchant bankers in the country have formally pitched for the mandate in the disinvestment programme of Rashtriya Chemicals Fertilisers (RCF).
The presentations was held on June 23 with nine contestants making the pitch.
Sources said some of the bigger ones are not that keen on bagging the mandate.
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According to a merchant banker, there is not much money to be made out of government disinvestments. Besides, RCF lacks the glamour of some other public sector undertakings.
Among those known to be in the race are HSBC Securities, SBI Capital Markets, Rabo Bank and Lazard India.
RCF is one of the largest urea producing fertiliser company which is likely to be disinvested soon.
The department of disinvestment (DoD) is expected to appoint an advisor for the disinvestment within the next seven days.
The government of India has put RCF on the fast track of disinvestment. On May 22, the government had announced its intentions of privatising RCF by offering a little over half (51 per cent) of its 92.5 per cent equity to a private company. The rest 7.5 per cent of the stake is with the public.
The DoD had invited expressions of interest in order to select an advisor till June 9. Interested parties were asked to make presentations on June 23, thereafter an advisor is expected to be selected within one or two weeks. Due diligence is expected to start in the following two or three months.
A senior RCF official confirmed that the government was going to appoint an advisor soon. However, he said that the company was not aware of the players who are in the race to be the advisor.
It is understood that the divestment of RCF will take place after National Fertiliser (NFL) is divested, where the bid price is expected to be out in Mid-July.
According to analysts, disinvestment of NFL would offer greater confidence for the smooth divestment of RCF. The pricing and interest in NFL would determine the business valuation for a fertiliser company such as RCF.
RCF is one of the largest fertiliser and chemical manufacturing companies in Asia and its cost of urea manufacturing is lower than the average cost of all companies in this category.
The company