Govt may garner Rs 8,900cr by BPCL, HPCL sell off

mumbai: the disinvestment ministry may garner a whopping amount of about rs 8,900 crore by sale of government''s strategic stake in navratna oil majors bharat petroleum corporation and hindustan petroleum corporation next fiscal. "currently the government has two criteria for deciding bpcl and hpcl divestment...that is which deal can be completed in next financial year and which company will fetch higher cash", top industry sources told said on sunday. the government, which will appoint advisors for the twin sale by next month, may retain 26 per cent stake in each company as in the case of other strategic sales and thus sell 40 per cent of its 66 per cent stake in bpcl and 25 per cent of of its 51 per cent holding in hpcl. industry pundits, monitoring the stock prices of these primarily marketing companies, have pegged bpcl higher at rs 448 per share and hpcl at rs 410 per share at the time of divestment with a 30-40 per cent premium to their face value. sources said due to bpcl''s stronger cash flows, the sale would fetch around rs 5,376 crore while hpcl was pegged at rs 3,474 crore. "the acquisition of the two is the fastest route for global oil majors to enter india. over the years, they have built a strong infrastructure for marketing and distribution and enjoy an all india presence, making them attractive even to domestic players like reliance which has high aspirations in automotive fuel retailing", sources said.