Bids invited for Hindustan Copper Ltd

Government has invited financial bids for privatisation of Hindustan Copper Ltd (HCL) even as uncertainty clouded the disinvestment of the copper major, acquired partly through nationalisation route. Bidders have been given a month’s time to submit the bids, sources said.

Suitors would be required to submit an earnest money deposit of Rs five crore. However, the fate of the bidding process for the disinvestment seemed unclear as the company’s Ghatshila complex located in Jharkhand mining belt was acquired through the parliamentary route. Indian copper complex at Ghatshila on the Bengal-Bihar border houses three copper mines and a smelter. The company has already decided to shut down the mines leaving the smelter to function. Sources said the players vying for stake in the company had been made aware of the facts relating to acquisition and disinvestment ministry had not called off the bids in view of the Supreme Court decision on oil PSUs.

2-year lock-in period for Balmer Lawrie

KOLKATA: government has fixed the lock-in period of two years for Balmer Lawrie & Company post disinvestment, following which the buyer would be free to sell the assets of the firm. As per the share purchase agreement, finalised by the core group of secretaries, the government has decided to fix a two-year lock-in period, within which the buyer would not be able to sell the company’s assets after signing the transaction document, sources said. They also stated that while in other cases of disinvestment, lock-in periods had been given for a maximum of 5 years, it was unclear why the government chose to fix a two-year lock-in period for Balmer Lawrie, a company having assets spread all across country.