India Said to Plan Completing $4.5 Billion HPCL Sale This Year
- Government plans to sell 51.1% of HPCL to ONGC by December
- HPCL sale can meet about 40% of divestment target for 2017-18
The Indian government is planning to sell a stake valued at $4.5 billion in state-refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp. to the country’s biggest explorer this year as part of its plans to create a state-owned oil giant, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The government plans to sell its 51.1 percent holding in India’s third-largest refiner to Oil & Natural Gas Corp. and the final model for combining the two state-run companies will be decided in a few months, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. The oil ministry favors turning HPCL into a unit of ONGC instead of merging the two companies, one of the people said. Finance Ministry spokesman D.S. Malik, ONGC and HPCL spokesmen declined to comment.