India Extends Bidding Date For Ferro Scrap Nigam For The Third Time

The government has extended the bidding date for for the disinvestment of Ferro Scrap Nigam Ltd., for the third time as potential buyers sought clarifications, according to two government officials.

On June 20, Tuhin Kanta Pandey, secretary in the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, tweeted, "Multiple Expressions of interest received for strategic disinvestment of Ferro Scrap Nigam Ltd.--a wholly owned subsidiary of MSTC Ltd."

However, shortlisted bidders were not intimated by June 27, but instead the deadline has been extended to July 18. Earlier, the government had extended the deadline from May 25 to Jun 27. The deadline had been extended once prior to that.

Emailed queries to the DIPAM remained unanswered.

Expression of interest for FSNL, a 100% subsidiary of MSTC, was first floated on March 31 and the last date for submission of bids was May 5. Later, it was extended to June 6. There was no notification on any further extension of deadline.

There were several clarifications that needed to be provided to interested bidders regarding contracts of FSNL that will end in this financial year, especially the ones with Steel Authority of India, said the government official quoted earlier, speaking on the condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to disclose details.

FSNL is an IMS certified Mini Ratna-II category company under the Ministry of Steel. The company has authorised share capital of Rs 50 crore and a paid-up share capital of Rs 32 crore, according to its official website.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had approved complete divestment of stakes in October 2016. The government aims to transfer management control.

Transaction advisors had received queries on whether it was obligatory to retain entire staff strength engaged by FSNL and these conditions will only be clear in the request for proposal stage, said a second government official, who also didn't want to be identified. The government, however, did inform bidders that there is going to be employee protection and asset maintenance clauses included, the official said.

FSNL, according to its last annual report, employs 143 executives, 542 non-executives and over 500 contractual workers. The government has appointed BDO India as transaction adviser.