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Indrani Dutta

KOLKATA, May 6

BHARAT Bhari Udyog Nigam Ltd (BBUNL), the holding company for a clutch of engineering PSUs, may sell 100 per cent of its holding in its subsidiary Braithwaite Burn and Jessop (BBJ).

BBJ, for whom the divestment process has already been initiated, is currently trying to find suitors for acquiring 74 per cent of the stake now held by BBUNL.

Even as some of the top private sector engineering companies have put in bids to acquire a controlling stake, the company's 120 employees have also thrown their hat in the ring, forming a co-operative to run the company. Altogether, 17 companies have been shortlisted from the 22 which had shown interest in the company. The criteria of financial track record has been waived for the employees' consortium.

The company, which is associated with almost all the rail bridges in the country, besides two of the landmarks in the city - the Howrah Bridge and the Second Hooghly Bridge - is a very good takeover target, having a lean but skilled workforce and a healthy balance sheet, sources said.

BBJ has also diversified into civil construction and other multipurpose projects, sources said.

Sources said that now a data room would be set up for the prospective bidders to view the company's financial and other performance details.

Pointing out that simultaneously, the task of drawing up the shareholders agreement and the share purchase agreement would also be taken up by the Centre.

With an authorised capital of Rs 3 crore, BBJ is a small company, but sources pointed out that at present, it was perhaps the only profitable outfit in the BBUNL fold.

Of the Rs 1.97-crore capital which has been issued and subscribed, BBUNL holds 1,97,255 shares.

Sources said that although BBJ has entered into new areas, building bridges continues to be its forte, though the company has a presence in erecting marine structures such as fisheries jetty and water intake jetties.

Since 1992-93, it has introduced another specialised service - rehabilitation of existing steel bridges for extending their residual life. BBJ's order-book for 2001-02 was estimated at Rs 33.1 crore.

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