Larsen 038; Toubro to take over Instrumentations146; Palghat unit

Larsen Toubro is all set to take over the Palghat unit of loss-making Instrumentations Ltd IL. The core group of secretaries on disinves...

Larsen 038; Toubro is all set to take over the Palghat unit of loss-making Instrumentations Ltd IL. The core group of secretaries on disinvestment CGD has cleared L038;T8217;s bid for the acquisition of 51 per cent stake in IL. The final decision will be taken by the Cabinet committee on disinvestment CCD on the sale of IL8217;s Palghat unit.

IL, whose accumulated losses exceed Rs 135 crore, has three units 8212; namely, at Kota, Jaipur and Palghat. The government intended to sell the entire company. To facilitate the sale, it carried out subsidiarisation, as a result of which the Kota unit became Instrumentation Control Valves Ltd ICVL. The Kota and Jaipur units could not attract any buyers.

According to official sources in the ministry of heavy industries, which is the administrative ministry for IL, there was only one bid for ICVL. The CGD cleared the L038;T bid on Thursday. The CCD will take up the ICVL sale at its next meeting, the date for which is yet to be fixed.

Official sources, however, refused to disclose the bid price, or the reserve price for ICVL.

The consortium of IDBI and SB Billimoria 038; Co is advising the government on ICVL privatisation.

ICVL, which was set up in 1975, manufactures control valves, betterfly valves, safety relief valves and other allied items to cater to the needs of process industries.

In other decisions, the CGD okayed the transaction documents for three public sector undertakings PSUs 8212; Tide Water Oil Ltd TWOL, Hoogly Printing and Hindustan Newsprint Ltd HNL.

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In TWOL, 41.8 per cent stake is held by the government indirectly. About 28 per cent of TWOL shares are held by Andrew Yule, a PSU, and the rest by government-owned financial institutions. According to official sources, the dispute over Veedol brand of TWOL has been resolved.

The strategic partner will acquire 74 per cent stake of HNL, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hindustan Paper Corp. Sources said that HNL has evoked good response from the private parties, one of the bidders being a foreign company.

There is also good response for Hoogly Printing, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Andrew Yule.

The CGD also discussed the privatisation of National Buildings Construction Corp NBCC. The reconstitute Disinvestment Commission, earlier this year, had recommended to the government to sell off 74 per cent stake of its 100 per cent shareholding in NBCC to a strategic partner while retaining 26 per cent for three years.

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NBCC has a equity base of Rs 120 crore and employs around 3,150 employees.