Centre likely to close on merchant bankers prices

Contrary to general perception, the Centre has virtually decided to finalise the results of the ninth round of bidding, the first this fiscal, for the equity of the four PSUs on the basis of the reserve prices recommended by the three merchant bankers. The reserve prices for the shares of the four PSUs — MTNL, ONGC, Container Corporation of India and Steel Authority of India — have been fixed by averaging the individual recommendations of ICICI Securities, SBI Capital Markets and the IDBI.

Enron willing to drop proceedings

The US multinational Enron Development Corporation has indicated its willingness to drop arbitration proceedings provided talks with the expert committee yield positive results. The Shiv Sena chief, Mr. Bal Thackeray, said the Enron Chairperson and CEO, Ms. Rebecca Mark, agreed to all the five conditions laid down by him at Wednesday's one-hour meeting. Ms. Mark and Mr. Thackeray agreed that the talks should be within a time-frame though the frame was not spelt out. Mr. Thackeray said that the issue would be discussed on Wednesday night with the Maharashtra Chief Minister, Mr. Manohar Joshi.

OIL calls off swap deal talks with Mobil

Peeved at Mobil’s non-compromising attitude, Oil India Ltd (OIL) has called off its talks with the international giant for a swap deal. Negotiations were on between the two companies for swapping equity stakes in oilfields. Mobil had, earlier this year, shown interest in acquiring the acreages being operated by OIL in Assam. The PSU was willing to grant equity stakes in the fields to Mobil in exchange for concession’s in acreages being operated by the US-based company in third countries.

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