New Delhi : The Cabinet is likely to consider this month sale of government’s 51 per cent stake in Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) to Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) for over Rs 26,000 crore. The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) in the Ministry of Finance is moving a note for consideration of the Cabinet for divesting government’s entire 51.11 per cent shareholding in India’s third-biggest fuel retailer HPCL to oil producer ONGC.
The Cabinet may take up the proposal this month, a source in the government said. “It may come before the Cabinet as early as 10 to 15 days,” he said. After the Cabinet nod, the government will move to appoint valuation and transaction advisers while ONGC too may decide to hire merchant bankers to arrive at the valuation of government shareholding. Following up on Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s Budget announcement of creating an integrated oil company, ONGC evaluated options of acquiring either HPCL or Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) – the two downstream oil refining and fuel marketing companies.