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Thomas K Thomas

New Delhi , Sept. 10

THE Department of Telecom (DoT) has formed a joint evaluation committee with the Department of Disinvestment (DoD) for selecting a consultant to advise the Government on the proposed merger of state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd.

The two departments have short-listed 13 firms and are in the process of inviting them to submit financial bids for the proposed project.

The committee comprises the Member (Finance) Telecom Commission, the Senior Deputy Director General (DoT) and the Joint Secretary (Disinvestment). It would be chaired by the Member (Services), Telecom Commission.

The financial bids from the consultants will be invited in two phases.

The first phase will include remuneration up to the stage of working out various options for synergising the strengths of the two telecom companies and preparing the action plan based on the best option for restructuring them.

The second phase will include actual implementation of the action plan.

The short-listed companies include almost all the big names in the consultancy and merchant banking fraternity. Hong Kong Shanghai Bank, Ernst & Young, J P Morgan, Lazard, ICICI Securities, Kotak Mahindra, SBI Capital, Boston Consulting and Accenture are some of the firms identified by DoT in consultation with DoD.

As per the criteria prepared by DoT, firms with experience in mergers and acquisition will be given the maximum weightage.

Sector-specific experience, local presence, understanding of public sector enterprises and the company's ability to handle finance, legal and corporate affairs would also be looked at before deciding on the advisor.

The Ministry of Communication has been trying to find synergies between MTNL and BSNL for the last four years.

An earlier exercise initiated by Mr Pramod Mahajan was put on the back burner by his successor Mr Arun Shourie.

However, with the two PSUs expressing desire to expand services beyond their allotted geographical areas to take on competition from private operators, the Ministry is now taking a re-look at ways to find a synergy which include merging the two PSUs.

More Stories on : Telecommunications | Mergers & Acquisitions | Consulting

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