Govt likely to retain PwC for Phoenix Yule

KOLKATA: The government is likely to retain PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as consultant for divestment of Andrew Yule's stake in Phoenix Yule even though the role of the auditing firm has been questioned several times in the back of the Satyam fiasco.

A source said, "No decision had been taken on whether to retain PwC as consultant for Yule's stake sale in Phoenix Yule."

The role of PwC as statutory auditor in scam-tainted Satyam had been put under question by Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) as well as other regulators.

The source said that PwC, if retained, would do the entire handholding exercise for sell-off of Yule's 26 per cent stake in Phoenix Yule, where the German company Phoenix had the first right of refusal.

Yule's stake sale in Phoenix Yule was a part of the revival process of the company which had been referred to BIFR in 2002.

Besides Phoenix Yule, SBI Caps had been mandated for Yule's another 26 per cent stake sale in the highly profitable TideWater Oil.

The source said that Dishergarh Power Supply Corporation (DPSC) disinvestment process was in the last lap with the price bids expected to be completed by February.

Yule expects to complete the three disinvestment exercises by the current financial year.

He said that the three sell-offs were likely to fetch Rs 200 crore to Andrew Yule.