Cairn India issue to open on Monday

MUMBAI: The initial public offer (IPO) of Cairn India is set to open as scheduled on Monday, even as the company is embroiled in a battle with public sector behemoth ONGC, over evacuation of crude from the Rajasthan fields. Earlier this week, Sebi had asked Cairn to respond to ONGC’s claim that Cairn India had not made adequate disclosures with respect to the evacuation of crude.

“We have replied to MRPL...the correspondence continues, we have also informed Sebi of the developments,” said an official with a merchant banker to the issue. This was also corroborated by Cairn India.

Says David Nisbet, director — group communications, Cairn India: “We are in the process of responding to the authorities on the clarifications sought. Our issue is on schedule and opens on Monday.”

However, a senior MRPL official denied having received any communication from Cairn. The dispute arose when MRPL, being the government nominee to evacuate the Rajasthan crude, filed a complaint with Sebi alleging “partial disclosure of facts” in Cairn’s red herring prospectus for the IPO.

According to MRPL, the disclosures pertaining to the offtake of crude from Rajasthan fields were not accurate. MRPL has disputed Cairn’s disclosure, which states that the production schedule may be delayed due to MRPL’s failure to keep its commitment to construct the pipeline for the transporting crude. According to MRPL, the pipeline was supposed to be built as a joint commitment in the interim period to build a refinery. However, the joint venture to explore the feasibility of building a refinery was not established.