The sale of West Bengal government’s stake in the ailing Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd is expected to be completed by November this year, Indian state industry minister Partha Chatterjee was quoted as saying by the Indian Newspaper, Economic Times.
“We expect the process of divestment to be complete by November,” Chatterjee said here.
The Minister said the advertisement seeking expression of interest in the HPL is expected to come out any day over the next one week.
Consultancy firm Deloitte has been engaged as the transaction advisor for the proposed stake sale on behalf of the West Bengal Industrial development Corporation (WBIDC).
At the end of March 31, 2013, the company’s net worth had been eroded by more than 50 per cent making it potentially sick for a reference to BIFR (Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction).
Haldia Petrochemicals, once upon a time a flagship firm today has no banks willing to lend and the employees have been told to fear the worst, reports have said. One news report mentions that apart from the 850 people who work with the company, there are 900 downstream ventures in the state dependent on Haldia Petrochemicals. These units employ 200,000 people. The future of the employees seem uncertain.
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