About a year ago, shares of state-run Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL) rallied to more than ₹500 on the back of hopes around its proposed privatization. But the stock has since given up most of those gains, and now trades at less than ₹400, with the one-year return at -22%.
Last week, government officials said, “multiple” expressions of interest (EoI) were received for the BPCL stake. Vedanta Ltd, one of the interested entities, said its EoI for BPCL is merely exploratory in nature. Further, according to news reports, a foreign major player and two private funds are also in the race. The BPCL stock has declined around 5% since 16 November, which was the deadline to submit the EoI. “No big global names or even Reliance Industries Ltd are reported to have submitted the EoI so far. That’s a disappointment for investors,” said an analyst at a domestic brokerage, requesting anonymity.
