Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Resources has tied up with London-based investment firm Centricus to set up a $10-billion fund to invest in government entities that will be up for disinvestment.
Vedanta was one of the three companies that had shown interest in the privatization of Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL). In addition, Agarwal had recently said that his company is evaluating the options to buy a stake in companies like NMDC, Container Corporation, Shipping Corporation, Hindustan Copper, and BEML.
“Teamed up with London-based firm Centricus to create a $10 bn fund that will invest in stake sale of public sector companies,” Agarwal said in a Tweet on February 12. He added that the company is excited with the Union Budget’s strong focus on disinvestment and would like to participate in the exercise.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had set a disinvestment target of Rs 1.75 lakh crore in 2021-22. The government is planning to complete the strategic sale of IDBI Bank, BPCL, Shipping Corporation, Container Corporation, Neelachal Ispat Nigam, Pawan Hans, and Air India, among others. Agarwal claimed that Vedanta has a track record of turning around companies like Hindustan Zinc and Balco after disinvestment, without retrenching a single employee.
Vedanta and private equity firms Apollo Global and I Squared Capital’s arm Think Gas have shown interest in buying the government’s 52.98 per cent stake in BPCL. Based on the current market capitalization, the government stake in BPCL is valued at Rs 48,000 crore.
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