New Delhi: Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) board has approved sale of its 61.65 percent stake in Numaligarh refinery for ₹9,875 crore, the company said in a regulatory filing.
The consortium of OIL and Engineers India Ltd will acquire 49 percent and the rest 13.65 percent will be sold to the government of Assam, director (Finance) N Vijayagopal said.
The oil marketing major earlier said that it would complete stake sale by by the end of March.
The sale of NRL is considered to be the first step towards disinvestment of BPCL. In the nation’s biggest privatisation till date, the central government will sell its entire 52.98% stake in BPCL. The government earlier indicated that it expects to complete BPCL privatisation by the first half of the fiscal beginning April (2021-22). The sale is key to achieving the ₹1.75 lakh crore disinvestment target set for 2021-22. Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Group and private equity players like Apollo Global, and I Squared Capital earlier expressed their interests in BPCL.
Numaligarh Refinery is looking to expand its refining capacity from 3 million tonnes per annum to 9 million tonnes a year at an investment of ₹22,594 crore. The project is expected to be completed by 2024.
“The consolidated total income of Numaligarh Refinery Limited for the financial year ended 31 March, 2020 was Rs. 14,244.29 crore,” BPCL said. The consolidated net worth of the refinery as of 31 March, 2020 was ₹5,292.00 crore.
BPCL reported 120% increase in net profit to ₹2,777.6 crore for the quarter ended in December on the back of inventory gains. The company posted 1,260.6 crore net profit in the same period a year back. The company booked ₹771 crore inventory gains after the fuel it made from crude oil it bought at lower prices got sold at higher rates.
“The share purchase agreement will be entered entered into; into after obtaining approval from the shareholders,” it further added.
