Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta Group expresses interest in buying government’s stake in BPCL

Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta Group on Wednesday confirmed that it is among those who expressed their interest in acquiring Government of India’s stake in the state-run refinery Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL). “Vedanta’s EoI for BPCL is to evaluate potential synergies with our existing oil and gas business,” news agency PTI quoted a Vedanta spokesperson as saying. BPCL received multiple bids by the end of the deadline on Monday, however, reports suggest that big wigs like Reliance Industries, Aramco, Total, and BP gave the divestment offer a miss.

The government plans to sell its entire 52.98 per cent stake in BPCL. On Monday the Secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) tweeted, “For strategic disinvestment of BPCL, multiple expressions of interest have been received by the Transaction Advisor. The Transaction will move to the second stage after scrutiny by TA.” The government has not delved into the details and has not made any names public.