Ministers' panel to meet next week on STC divestment

NEW DELHI: A meeting of the Inter Ministerial Group may be held next week to discuss the draft shareholders and sharepurchase agreements for the disinvestment of State Trading Corporation.
"The IMG has already met once, and since some changes have been suggested so another meeting may be convened next week for discussing the draft transaction documents for STC disinvestment," Disinvestment Ministry sources said.
The government proposes to disinvest close to 65 per cent stake in the company through a strategic sale along with transfer of management control while 16 per cent of the remaining equity would be retained by the government and 10 per cent offered to employees.
It has mandated Ernst & Young to act as global advisors.
As many as a dozen bidders, including Videocon and Adanis, had expressed interest in acquiring STC.
STC has an equity base of Rs 30 crore of which government shareholding stands at Rs 27 crore. It had a net worth of Rs 420 crore as on March 2001 while net profits stood at Rs 26 crore.