Govt to call final bids for NFL in 2 weeks

Tina Edwin and Puneet Jain NEW DELHI: The disinvestment of National Fertiliser is set to enter the final lap with the government planning to call financial bids from the prospective bidders within a fortnight. Government sources said that the draft shareholders agreement and the share purchase agreement would be finalised at the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment on Saturday when it meets to finalise the IPCL disinvestment. The financial bids are expected to be finalised at a Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment meeting to be held late June. Meanwhile, with the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs clearing the seventh and eight pricing plans, the government has decided to place a proposal to divest 51 per cent stake in two fertiliser companies â€” Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers and Fertiliser and Chemicals (Travancore) â€” before the core group of secretaries on disinvestment for approval. The Disinvestment Commission had recommended 51 per cent sale of government holding in these companies. A road map for divestment of government holding in these companies would be decided at a later date. Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers, a mini-ratna PSU, had reported net profit of Rs 64 crore in â€™00-01 on a turnover of Rs 2,092 crore. The company has paid up equity capital of Rs 551.69 crore. Fertiliser and Chemicals (Travancore) had reported a loss of Rs 152 crore on turnover of Rs 1,733 crore during the same period. FACT has a paid up equity capital of Rs 354.77 crore. Four companies â€” Tata Chemicals, Indo-Gulf Corporation, Chambal Fertilisers and Oswal Chemicals - have been shortlisted to buy the 51 per cent holding put on offer in National Fertiliser. The paid up equity capital of the PSU is Rs 490.58 crore. The reserve price for the companyâ€™s share is likely to be fixed between Rs 42-45 apiece. The indicative valuation for the 51 per cent stake is approximately Rs 1,000 crore. National Fertilisers is one of Indiaâ€™s largest fertiliser companies with four units located in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab. The government owns 97.6 per cent in the company. Fertiliser is a highly controlled sector in India with the government fixing prices of key items. It also changes the pricing norms of products such as urea from time to time resulting in a change in profitability of key companies.

Govt to call final bids for NFL in 2 weeks

The disinvestment of National Fertiliser is set to enter the final lap with the government planning to call financial bids from the prospective bidders within a fortnight.

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