Essar, Videocon put in initial bids for STC stake

new delhi: consumer goods major videocon, essar and cargill have submitted initial bids for picking up government''s equity in state trading corporation. "we have filed an expression of interest for the company. we are very interested in the company as it is synergistic with our current operations," videocon group chairman v n dhoot said. sources, meanwhile, said essar had also submitted eoi for acquiring majority stake in stc, but declined to give details. essar officials were not available for comment. when contacted cargill sources confirmed that they had submitted an eoi for picking up stake in the state trading enterprise. the government last month had invited the eoi for divesting 65 per cent stake in the company. it has mandated ernst and young as the global advisor. the employees federation of stc has also submitted an eoi saying they were interested in financial bids too and will be able to raise sufficient funds for the same. official sources said the response to the proposed sale has been very good and they expected the disinvestment process to be completed by november this year. as a prelude to the disinvestment exercise stc''s paid up capital had been restructured by cancellation of one third of the shares and hiving off rs 40 crore.