Bhel selloff gathers steam

The disinvestment of government equity in Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd has gathered steam, in spite of the opposition from the Left. The inter-ministerial group on disinvestment is scheduled to finalise the advisers for the sale shortly.

"The process will continue independent of the political developments. We have been mandated by the Cabinet to complete the process by October 2005," said an official in the heavy industries ministry. Officials, however, refused to disclose if a date for the IMG meeting had been fixed.

Also, they did not divulge whether merchant bankers had been shortlisted or not. Merchant bankers, including JM Morgan Stanley, DSP Merrill Lynch, ICICI Securities, Kotak Mahindra Securities and SBI Caps, were among the eight who had submitted Expressions of Interest (EoIs) last Monday.

The government had said that it could not cancel the process of receiving EoIs after having issued the advertisements.

The process of shortlisting comes despite the impression among the Left parties that the United Progressive Alliance had decided to put the sale on the backburner. The Union Cabinet had cleared a proposal to sell 10 per cent equity in Bhel, where it holds 67.7 per cent stake.

The decision had been opposed by the Communist parties, which have extended outside support to the government, and have had two rounds of negotiations with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

During negotiations with the Left parties, the UPA leadership had proposed to sell 7 per cent stake instead of 10 per cent cleared by the cabinet.

Officials said prolonging the process may not fetch the highest possible price.