Govt receives multiple bids for BPCL, request for proposal to be issued soon

NEW DELHI:  Union government officials on Monday said that the Centre had received multiple bids from interested parties for its planned strategic stake sale in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL). Monday was the last day of the window for submitting bids and the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) had ruled out any further extensions. The government had been forced to revise this deadline at least four times over the past year. 

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tweeted on Monday that the divestment process of BPCL will not move on to the second stage. “Multiple expressions of interest have been received by the Transaction Advisor. The transaction will  move to the second stage after scrutiny by TA,” DIPAM secretary Tuhina Kanta Pandey said in another tweet. 

While neither offered any further details, such as the number of EoIs received or the names of the bidders, industry sources said that the big names have given it a skip, such as Reliance Industries, Saudi Aramco, BP Plc, and Total. Both Reliance and Aramco had been seen as prime candidates for placing a bid, since negotiations for a deal between the two seem to have run aground. 

“Since neither Reliance nor Aramco seem likely to conclude their own earlier agreement, taking over BPCL would have looked like an attractive option for both,” said an industry expert. However,  sources said that the number of bids received are around a handful and the bids will now be thoroughly examined by the Transaction advisors to ensure they met the required criteria.

Once satisfied, the Centre will send out a request for proposal (RFP) to the bidders to submit financial bids.  BPCL currently controls 15.33 per cent of  India’s oil refining capacity and 22 per cent of its oil marketing sector. It has upstream assets across nine countries.