Disvestment bids for Pawan Hans to be opened soon
PremiumThe multiple bids for Pawan Hans will be opened by the transaction adviser in the coming days
NEW DELHI : India is looking to complete a prolonged divestment of its 51% stake in loss-making helicopter operator Pawan Hans, buoyed by the successful sale of flag carrier Air India to the Tata Group.
The central government has received multiple bids for Pawan Hans, which will be opened by the transaction advisor in the coming days, Tuhin Kanta Pandey, secretary to the department of investment and public asset management (Dipam), the government department overseeing the helicopter operator’s divestment, said in an interview.
“(For) Pawan Hans, the bids have come; we will open it soon. Government has 51% stake which will be sold, while ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd) has 49% stake. It (ONGC) has done back-to-back agreement that it will sell its stake at an agreed upon price (along with the government’s stake to the highest bidder)," Pandey said. He did not give a timeframe.
Pandey declined to disclose the number of bidders and their names. SBI Caps is the transaction advisor for the divestment of Pawan Hans.
The divestment of Pawan Hans is part of the government’s ambitious divestment target of ₹1.75 trillion for this fiscal, which has been revised downwards to ₹78,000 crore. So far, the government has managed to collect nearly ₹12,030 crore from disinvestment this year.
The government first invited bids in 2018 to sell its 51% stake in Pawan Hans. However, the process was withdrawn after ONGC too decided to sell its stake in the helicopter operator. A second attempt was made in 2019 but this failed to garner investor interest.
Last year, the government in a renewed attempt sweetened the terms of divestment by lowering the net worth for potential bidders from ₹350 crore to ₹300 crore. The minimum lock-in period for the investment was also reduced, allowing successful bidders to sell after a year.
Pawan Hans, which was set up in 1985, narrowed its net loss to ₹28 crore in 2019-20, from ₹69 crore in the previous year, according to the latest available data. It has a fleet of more than 40 helicopters.
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Apart from providing services to India’s Northeast and other states, it also provides services to companies like NTPC, GAIL and GSPC .
gulveen.aulakh@livemint.com
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