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Govt to wrap up stake sale in Hind Copper by Oct

The government plans to complete a stake sale in state-owned Hindustan Copper by October as it steps up its privatisation drive in the months ahead, a senior government official said on Thursday.

The government invited bids in April to sell its entire 98.95 per cent holding in the country's leading copper maker to a strategic partner.

The sale is part of the government's plan to raise Rs 120 billion ($2.45 billion) in the year ending March 2003 from stake sales in state-run firms.

"The bidders will start due diligence in Hindustan Copper on June 17 and we hope to complete the process in the company by October," a divestment ministry official, who did not wish to be identified, told Reuters.

The government has consistently failed to meet its privatisation targets in the past but the process received a boost after it managed to sell stakes in a giant telecoms company, a car maker, a petrochemicals firm and an oil marketing firm earlier this year.

The official said the four bidders in the fray for Hindustan Copper were Sterlite, the Metdist group of UK, Pune-based Finolex Cables and the A V Birla group.

An Indian cabinet panel on Tuesday approved a $138 million restructuring plan for Hindustan Copper to make it more attractive for bidders ahead of its privatisation.

The official also said the divestment department has begun discussions for finalising schedules for domestic and American depositary issues for stake sales in National Aluminium Co, the country's second largest aluminium maker.

The government has appointed ABN Amro, Rothschild, Enam and a consortium of ICICI Securities and J P Morgan as advisers for stake sales in NALCO in which the government holds an 87.15 per cent stake and plans to reduce it to 26 per cent in two phases.

It plans to complete the first phase which includes the domestic and ADR issues by February and then take up a strategic sale in the company.

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