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The government will soon invite fresh bids for a 100 per cent stake sale in Pawan Hans as ONGC is ready to sell its entire stake in the company, an official said.
Helicopter services provider Pawan Hans is a joint venture between the government, which holds 51 per cent stake, and state-owned ONGC, which owns the remaining 49 per cent. Pawans Hans has a fleet of 46 choppers.
On April 13, the government had issued the information memorandum for the 51 per cent strategic stake sale in Pawan Hans and sought an Expression of Interest (EoI) from interested bidders by June 18. About half a dozen players are believed to have submitted bids.
On July 2, the ONGC wrote to the government saying it would prefer to exit Pawan Hans along with the government.
The senior government official said that an addendum to the existing document would be issued soon, seeking bids for 100 per cent stake in Pawan Hans.
“An addendum will be issued to the EoI (Expression of Interest) document issued on April 13. The addendum will state that ONGC has expressed its interest in selling its 49 per cent holding and fresh bids can be put in for the entire 100 per cent stake,” the official said.
According to the official, the existing bids for the government’s 51 per cent stake would stay. “We want to give other investors a chance in case they want to bid for entire 100 per cent stake,” the official added.
SBI Capital Markets is the transaction advisor for the strategic disinvestment of Pawan Hans.
The government had first floated an offer to sell its 51 per cent stake in October last year, but in view of the subdued response from bidders, the EoI was withdrawn in April this year.
At the time, some investors had suggested that the government and ONGC should sell their stakes together. “Potential investors had then suggested that ONGC’s 49 per cent stake too should be sold along with government’s 51 per cent. They feared that ONGC holding 49 per cent could mean government interference in some way,” the official said.
Later, on April 13, the government came out with a fresh information memorandum for the strategic sale of Pawan Hans wherein bidders need to have a minimum net worth of ₹500 crore.
Among others, Pawan Hans provides seven choppers to ONGC for its off-shore helicopter requirements for crew change and production tasks, including night ambulance.
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