Govt Shortlists Three Bidders For Sale Of Its 63.75 Per Cent Stake In Shipping Corporation Of India

In a boost for the government's disinvestment push, three bidders have been finalised for the sale of its 63.75 per cent stake in Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), reports Economic Times.

The three bidders finalised for the next round of the disinvestment procedure are United States (US) based Safesea, Hyderabad based Megha Engineering and Infrastructure, and a consortium led by non-resident Indian businessman Ravi Mehrotra. All three have met the technical and financial criteria and have also received the security clearance.

Now, the shortlisted bidders will be issued a request for proposal. They will be signing a confidentiality undertaking following which they will be permitted to carry out due diligence on the shipowner as per the conditions laid out in a preliminary memorandum which was issued by the Government on 22 December.

Among the noted bidders who could not make it to the next round include a consortium of private equity firm Bain Capital and shipping major JM Baxi. The consortium's application is said to have had a technical issue that played a spoiler.