Vedanta has reportedly planning to raise $8bn through a combination of debt and equity to fund the acquisition of a 53.29% stake in Indian public sector oil and gas company Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL).
Vedanta Resources has already begun talks with banks and discussions with JP Morgan are at an advanced stage, Livemint reported citing people familiar with the matter.
The metals and mining firm has put forward its expression of interest (EoI) last month to purchase the majority stake in BPCL.
Along with Vedanta, private equity firms Apollo Global and I Squared Capital’s subsidiary Think Gas also placed bids to buy the government’s 52.98% stake.
I Squared Capital is a private equity firm investing in global infrastructure, and New York-based Apollo Global Management is an alternative investment management firm.
A high-powered committee is planned to meet today to review the received bids for BPCL acquisition.
In a statement to the stock exchanges BSE and NSE, BPCL said that it is considering a proposal for the acquisition of 36.62% shares in Bharat Oman Refineries (BORL), from OQ, formerly known as Oman Oil Company.
The stake purchase in BORL is subject to the approval of the competent authorities and meeting regulatory requirements.
BPCL is currently holding 63.38% equity shares and OQ 36.62% equity shares in BORL. Under the proposal, BPCL would acquire 888,613,336 equity shares from OQ.
Also, the board of directors is expected to consider a proposal to approach the Government of Madhya Pradesh (GoMP) for acquiring 269,00,000 warrants held by GoMP in BORL.
BPCL is also considering a proposal to merge with wholly owned subsidiary Bharat Gas Resources Limited.
