West Bengal government’s plan to offload its 39.99 per cent stake in Haldia Petrochemical (HPL) suffered setback with the group companies of The Chatterjee Group (TCG), claiming part of the stake sale.
TCG, holds stake in HPL through its group firms Chatterjee Petrochem (Maurtius) Company and Chatterjee Petrochem (India).
Recently, the state government invited expression of interest for selling its stake in the petrochemical company. However, in a public notice, TCG warned that any person submitting an expression of interest for the purchase of 675 million shares of HPL will do so subject to the existing rights of its group firms. The notice says both the group firms of TCG have claim on the 155 million shares, which is part of the overall stake that the state government wants to sell.
Highlighting the legal dispute over the 155 million shares, the TCG group said that in March 2012, CPMC had initiated arbitration proceedings in respect of the shares before the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce, Paris.
Of the 1,688 million shares of HPL, if the disputed 155 million shares is set aside, then TCG would be the majority holder with about 45 per cent, followed by the state government with around 34 per cent, Indian Oil Corporation 9 per cent, financial institutions 8 per cent and the Tatas 2.5 per cent.
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