INVESTIGATION

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LOK SABHA

The Ministry of Disinvestment has requested the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for an investigation for the period around the Government decision of September, 2002 on BPCL/HPCL disinvestment. This information was given by the Minister of Disinvestment, Communications and Information Technology, Shri Arun Shourie in a written reply to a question on whether the Department has undertaken any study on the cornering of BPCL shares by a group of investors just before the cabinet decision regarding disinvestment of BPCL by Shri Adhir Chowdhury in the Lok Sabha today.

The Minister said that based on a competitive bidding process, Government have appointed the consortium comprising DSP Merill Lynch Limited, Mumbai and Merrill Lynch (Asia Pacific) Limited, Hongkong and another consortium comprising ICICI Securities Limited, Mumbai and UBS Warburg, Hongkong as Joint Global Coordinator-cum-Advisors for the disinvestment of 35.2% equity of BPCL held by Government through both domestic offer for sale and ADR issue.

Stating further, the Minister said that no reserve price is fixed in the case of offer for sale such as the BPCL disinvestment. However, in the case of offer for sale, pricing, etc. is typically decided in consultation with the Advisors at an appropriate later stage in the process.