5 firms in race to be transaction advisor for RINL sale

As many as five firms, including Ernst & Young LLP and SBI Capital Markets, are in the race to act as a transaction advisor for the government's 100 per cent stake sale in RINL.

As per a notice on the DIPAM website, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP, JM Financial Ltd and RBSA Capital Advisers LLP are also bidding for acting as an advisor for managing RINL sale.

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The firms would make presentations before the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) on September 30.

DIPAM, which manages the government's equity in public sector companies, had on July 7 floated the request for proposal (RFP) for appointing a transaction advisor for RINL or Vizag Steel. The last date for bidding was July 28, which was later extended till August 26.

It would appoint one transaction advisor for providing advisory services and managing the strategic disinvestment of the government's stake in RINL, along with RINL's stake in its subsidiaries/joint ventures.

Besides, five law firms have put in bids for acting as a legal advisor for RINL sale. They will also make presentations before DIPAM on September 30.

The firms are Chandhiok & Mahajan, Economic Laws Practice, J. Sagar Associates, Kochhar & Company and Link Legal.

The Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) on January 27 gave 'in-principle' approval for 100 per cent disinvestment of the government's stake in Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), also called Visakhapatnam Steel Plant or Vizag Steel, along with RINL's stake in its subsidiaries/joint ventures through strategic disinvestment by way of privatisation.

The government has set a disinvestment target of Rs 1.75 lakh crore for the current fiscal. So far, it has raised about Rs 9,110 crore by selling stake in Axis Bank, NMDC Ltd, Housing and Urban Development Corp (HUDCO) and Hindustan Copper.

As part of the privatisation strategy, the government aims to complete the strategic sale of RINL, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), Shipping Corp, Container Corporation, Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd, Pawan Hans, and Air India, among others, by March 2022.