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Nalco selloff process may resume in January

The government hopes to resume due diligence for a stake sale in the country's second largest aluminium firm, National Aluminium Co, only in January, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

Due diligence for Nalco ground to a halt last week after workers opposing the privatisation of the firm stopped a team of potential bidders from inspecting its main plant in Orissa.

"We have written to the advisers to delay due diligence in Nalco for international bidders," the divestment ministry official, who did not want to be identified, told reporters. "We are reviewing the law and order situation at the plant."

He said the privatisation of Nalco was unlikely to be completed in 2002-03 (April-March) and the government would miss its Rs 12,000 crore (Rs 120-billion) selloff target for the fiscal year ending March 2003.

The government plans to first sell a 29.15-per cent chunk of Nalco and management control. Afterwards, it wants to cut its stake to 26 per cent through stake sales of 10 per cent to domestic investors, 20 per cent through ADRs and two per cent to the employees.

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