Disinvestment ministry asks for Sebi probe

NEW DELHI: The disinvestment ministry has requested the Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for an investigation for the period around the government decision of September, 2002 on BPCL-HPCL disinvestment.
This information was given by the minister of Disinvestment, Communications and Information Technology, Arun Shourie in a written reply to a question on whether the department has undertaken any study on the cornering of BPCL shares by a group of investors just before the cabinet decision regarding disinvestment of BPCL by Adhir Chowdhury in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
The minister said that based on a competitive bidding process, the government have appointed the consortium comprising DSP Merill Lynch Limited, Mumbai and Merrill Lynch (Asia Pacific), Hong Kong and another consortium comprising ICICI Securities Limited, Mumbai and UBS Warburg, Hong Kong as Joint Global Coordinator-cum-Advisors for the disinvestment of 35.2 per cent equity of BPCL held by government through both domestic offer for sale and ADR issue.
Stating further, the minister said that no reserve price is fixed in the case of offer for sale such as the BPCL disinvestment. However, in the case of offer for sale, pricing, etc. is typically decided in consultation with the advisors at an appropriate later stage in the process.