Pawan Hans sale: Bidders to get draft share purchase pact soon; SBI Capital to be asked to go ahead with RFP

New Delhi: The draft share purchase agreement will be shared this week with shortlisted bidders of Pawan Hans for divesting the government and ONGC’s stake in the helicopter service provider, an official said on  Tuesday. The decision was taken by the alternative mechanism on strategic disinvestment headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and comprising Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu. [caption id=“attachment_4425689” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of a Pawan Hans helicopter. Reuters[/caption] “We will ask the transaction advisor SBI Capital to go ahead with the second stage of bidding process, which is issuance of the request for proposal (RFP) document, together with the draft share purchase agreement (SPA),” the official said. The government holds 51 percent stake in Pawan Hans, which has a fleet of 46 choppers. The remaining 49 percent is with state-run ONGC. Talking to reporters after the meeting of the alternative mechanism, the official said there has been “healthy interest” in the initial bids for Pawan Hans strategic sale. “The RFP and the SPA would be issued this week,” the official said, adding the strategic sale of Pawan Hans would be completed by March end. In April, the government had issued the information memorandum for the 51 percent strategic stake sale in Pawan Hans and had sought EoI from interested bidders by June 18. The ONGC board, thereafter, in July decided to combine its 49 percent stake in the offer for sale by government of India. Following this, in August the government invited fresh bids from entities saying that along with government’s 51 percent stake, the bidders will also have the option to buy ONGC stake of 49 percent in the company. The last date for submission of bids was September 12. However, the total number of bidders are not made public to maintain confidentiality of the bidding process.