Vedanta Group is willing to spend $12 billion to acquire government’s stake in Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (BPCL), reports Bloomberg.
The government's plan to sell its stake in India’s second-largest fuel retailer has run into rough weather with bidders struggling to find partners.
The goverment owns 53 percent stake in BPCL, which has a current market capitalisation of around Rs 84,827 crore ($11.4 billion).
Global sustainability rules that restrict large investments in fossil fuels have put hurdles on global oil majors who want to team up with investment funds.
“We’re not going to bid aggressively, but we will put the right price,” billionaire chairman Anil Agarwal said in an interview in Riyadh on Wednesday.
The sale, as part of plans to raise a record ₹2.1 lakh crore from disinvestment proceeds, is crucial for the government because it needs to raise revenues for its spending programs.
“The market cap of the company is about $11 billion to $12 billion, so this is the amount of investment we’re looking at,” Anil Agarwal said.
Besides Vedanta Group, private equity firms Apollo Global Management and I Squared Capital have also showed interest in acquiring the government’s holding in the oil refiner, according to Bloomberg.
India is likely to open the bids for BPCL in March.
