The government wants to sell its 51 percent stake in Pawan Hans. Image Credit source: Pawan Hans
The plan to sell the loss-making government company Pawan Hans has once again got stuck. The government has made four unsuccessful attempts to sell its 51 percent stake in this helicopter service company. Now it is being said that the government may once again withdraw the proposal to sell it.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had approved the disinvestment of Pawan Hans in October 2016 itself. Apart from the government, ONGC also has 49 percent stake in this government company.
The plan failed for the fourth time as well
A senior government official told Business Today TV that the inter-ministerial group formed for the sale of Pawan Hans may now withdraw this sale offer. Now the possibility of the government selling this company in the near future is also very less.
The official said that the process of closing the sale offer may begin this week itself. A proposal in this regard can be sent to the Group of Ministers. He said that this time there was a fair and competitive bid to buy Pawan Hans, but in view of the allegations against the buyer, the government had to change its decision. Due to these allegations, the transparency of the process was affected.
The inter-ministerial group formed to look into the disinvestment of Pawan Hans includes Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari and Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.
Star 9 Mobility had made a successful bid
This time Star 9 Mobility, a conglomerate led by Almas Global Opportunities Fund, had shown willingness to buy the government’s 51 per cent stake in Pawan Hans. For this he had bid 211 crores. Pawan Hans has a fleet of 41 helicopters.
Recently, the Kolkata Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal passed an order against Almas Global. The order was given after the company failed to complete its bid to acquire Kolkata-based power system solutions company EMC Limited.
Due to this, the central government issued a show cause notice to Star 9 Mobility and stopped the process of selling Pawan Hans.
Source: www.tv9hindi.com
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