Bharat Petroleum is planning to raise Rs 3,000 crore through private placement of unsecured non-convertible debentures in the current financial year 2021-22, the company stated in a regulatory filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
It added that the debentures are proposed to be listed on the debt market segment of both BSE and NSE.
"The details of the issue viz., class of investors, issue price, tenor, interest rate etc. will depend on the market conditions which will be intimated on the crystallization of the issue," the company stated in the filing.
The state-run refiner had reported a 23.6 per cent year-over-year increase in profits at Rs 3,200 crore in the September-end quarter. Revenue spiked 53.7 per cent at Rs 1.02 lakh crore over the comparable period last year. Additionally, the refiner declared an interim dividend of Rs 5 per equity share of the face value of Rs 10 each, that is, 50 per cent on the paid-up equity share capital of the company in the current financial year.
On October 27, the secretary of the department of investment and public asset management (DIPAM) had stated that the government received a final dividend of Rs 6,665 crore from Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited in the fiscal year 2020-21.
The central government is trying to sell its entire 52.98 per cent stake in the state-run refiner. However, the proposal has not seen sizeable euphoria as globally there is a visible push towards green energy, and commitment to slash emissions and CFCs is demotivating companies from making further investments in fossil fuels.
Additionally, the pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns bought in uncertain dynamics that have discouraged global firms from making sizeable investments in fossil fuels.
However, Vedanta Group and private equity firms such as Apollo Global and I Squared Capital's Indian subsidiary Think Gas have put forth their willingness for buying the state-run operator. As per an Economic Times report, the bidders are talking to global energy giants and sovereign and pension funds, however, they have not been able to finalize partners. The report states that bidders are finding it difficult to invest owing to cumbersome sustainability rules.
The Finance Ministry expects to complete the privatisation process of the refiner in the current fiscal year.
