Earlier ONGC had lost Petrokazakh to China National Petroleum Corporation. |
India's bid for acquiring overseas energy assets received another blow when Indian Oil Corporation yesterday lost out in the race for Turkey's state-owned Tupras. |
The deal was bagged by a combine comprising Shell and Turkish conglomerate KOC Holdings. This comes close on the heels of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation losing Petrokazakh to China National Petroleum Corporation. |
The Shell-KOCH consortium bid $4.14 billion for the Turkish government's 51 per cent stake in Tupras, while IndianOil and its local partner, the Calik Enerji group, withdrew from the race after having bid $4.12 billion. |
IndianOil executives told Business Standard that the companies were asked to match the price in a range of $20 million plus. "Tupras had a market capitalisation of $4.14 billion and we were bidding for 51 per cent stake. It was already overvalued," said an executive. |
Apart from a presence in Turkey, the acquisition would have helped IndianOil enter the European market and gain access to Caspian Sea crude. |
After submitting an expression of interest on June 14, 2005, the IndianOil-Calik Enerji consortium was shortlisted along with six other companies. The Shell and IndianOil consortia had made to the final round of bidding. |
For the final bid submitted by IndianOil to the privatisation administration of Turkey on September 2, Ernst & Young was the sole adviser. |
Tupras, in which the Turkish government held 66 per cent stake, owns four refineries - Izmit, Izmir, Kirikkale and Batman - with a combined capacity of 27.6 million tonnes per annum of oil amounting to about 86 per cent of the country's total refinery capacity. It also has a petrochemical production capacity of 153,000 tonnes per annum. |
Calik Enerji is a leading Turkish industrial group with interests in gas distribution, oil exploration, banking and textiles. It also has oil blocks in Turkmenistan. |