Shareholders of Cairn India have accepted the pre-conditions laid down by the Government for the proposed Cairn Energy-Vedanta Resources stake sale deal.
The two main conditions which were a bone of contention between the Government and the companies were – making royalty paid for Rajasthan oil fields cost recoverable and withdrawal of arbitration cases by Cairn India.
The postal ballot was a mere formality as majority shareholder in the company - Cairn Energy (52.2 per cent), Vedanta and its Group company (18.5 per cent) - were in acceptance of the Government conditions.
Now, with the shareholders nod, Cairn India will put in a formal request to ONGC seeking No Objection Certificates to facilitate the deal.
Cairn Energy had written to ONGC about its intent of seeking NOCs by September 21 for the stake sale. Cairn has 10 oil and gas blocks in India - three pre-NELP and seven NELP. Of the 10 blocks, ONGC is Cairn’s partner in 8 blocks.
Meanwhile, ONGC has appointed SBI Caps to do an independent valuation of Cairn India's hydrocarbon assets in India. ONGC board is expected to consider this on September 27.