Sterlite bags 26% in HZL; EIL, ITDC privatisation on cards

new delhi: the government on wednesday decided to sell 26 per cent stake in hindustan zinc to sterlite industries for rs 445 crore. it also announced its decision to privatise engineers india ltd through sale of 51 per cent stake to a strategic partner. the cabinet committee on disinvestment (ccd), which met here under the chairmanship of prime minister atal bihari vajpayee, cleared the bid by sterlite which was higher than the proposal given by the other bidder av birla group company indo-gulf. the sterlite bid was about rs 90 crore higher than the reserve price of rs 353 crore, disinvestment minister arun shourie told reporters but declined to give the bid price of indo-gulf saying both the offers were above the reserve price. this is the second time sterlite beat av birla group company, the first being its successful bid of rs 551 crore for majority stake in balco against the second highest bid from hindalco. shourie pointed out that sterlite''s offer was much higher than the offer of rs 321 crore made by it in november, forcing the government to go for rebidding as the amount quoted was lower than the reserve price. ccd also decided to sell 51 per cent stake in oil consultancy psu engineers india to a strategic partner besides offering 10 per cent stake to employees at one third of bid or market price, whichever was lower. ccd also cleared sale of 20 hotels of itdc in the second, third and fourth tranche, he said adding that price bids for ipcl would also be invited immediately after finalisation of gas linkage for which he would meet petroleum minister ram naik on thursday. the ccd approved the shareholders and sharepurchase agreements for ipcl, shourie said, adding the financial bids would be invited after some issues were sorted out. the ccd also approved the sale of itdc properties under the second tranche (properties in delhi), third tranche (properties outside delhi) and fourth tranche (joint sector properties), he said, adding that under the second tranche four properties - kanishka, ashok yatri niwas, ranjit and samrat would be put on the block. "we would not sell ashoka and janpath properties now as the tourism ministry had proposed improvement of the two properties," shourie said. as part of the third tranche, the government has put on block properties in jammu, kolkata, aurangabad, khajurao, kovalam, jaipur, bhubaneshwar and patna, he said and added that joint sector hotel properties in ranchi, puri, bhopal, pondicherry, itanagar and guwahati would also be sold. the sale of centaur delhi with a turnover of rs 9.5 crore could not be executed as it was incurring a loss of rs 10.7 crore with bidders resisting very high staff strength, he said, adding that privatisation of these properties, along with chefair mumbai, would be taken up only after executing a separation scheme funded by receipts from bidders.