Govt seeks asset valuer for HLL Lifecare divestment

The Government on Monday sought bids from firms for valuing assets of drug manufacturer HLL Lifecare, which is a wholly-owned government company.

The government is considering strategic sale of its 100 per cent stake in HLL Lifecare by hiving off the company's vaccine venture and Medipark as separate SPV within three months.

After that, the government's stake will be offloaded via a two-stage auction process for which the health ministry is looking to appoint an asset valuer, said the RFP for engagement of asset valuer.

The asset valuer would be required to carry out valuation of land and buildings, furniture, manufacturing equipment, inventory and other assets of the company.

HLL Lifecare's total turnover stood at Rs 1,054.34 crore. The net worth of the company as on March 31, 2017 is Rs 519.87 crore.

The unlisted PSU has five subsidiaries and one joint venture. The subsidiaries include HLL Biotech, which produces vaccines for National Immunisation programme; HLL Infra Tech Services, which procures medical equipment and HLL Medipark, which provides infrastructure support for promotion of medical equipment, among others.

Asset valuers would have to submit their bids to the health ministry by March 20, as per the Request for Proposal posted on the website of Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM).

The strategic sale of HLL Lifecare is likely to happen in next financial year beginning April 1.

The government plans to raise Rs 80,000 crore through PSU disinvestment in 2018-19. Revised estimates peg the disinvestment target at Rs 1 lakh crore for the ongoing financial year.