Page 18 - Plastics News March 2018

CompAny news

ONGC to sell OPaL stake to fund HPCL

il and Natural Gas Corp may sell stake in its mega GSPC for only 0.2 per cent. The remaining cost was borne
Opetrochemical project in Gujarat to fund acquisition by ONGC The official said ONGC already has government
of Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL), a senior official approval to sell its shareholding in IOC and GAIL but the
said. ONGC had borrowed money from banks to buy company is waiting for the right price to offload the
government's 51.11 per cent stake in HPCL for Rs 36,915 shares. ONGC, which completed HPCL acquisition at the
crore. "We traditionally have been a debt-free company end of January, has been a zero-debt company and wants
and would like to return to that status as soon as possible. to retain that status. The short-term loan it availed of has
We have assets which can be monetised to payoff the provision to pre-pay without any penalty. It will pre-pay
debt," he said. ONGC holds 13.77 per cent stake in nation's the one-year tenure loan fro sale of one or more of its
biggest refiner Indian Oil Corp (IOC), which at today's assets, he said.

Auxiliary equipment maker

Piovan to manufacture in India

talian auxiliary equipment maker Piovan SpA has
Iplans to set up manufacturing in India by the end of
next year, said, Peter Dal Bo, chief commercial officer
for Piovan.
trading price is worth close to Rs 26,000 crore. It also holds
4.86 per cent stake in gas utility GAIL India Ltd, which is The company has a sales and service operation in Mumbai
worth over Rs 3,600 crore. "We will sell sales in IOC and and is now searching for a suitable location for a factory.
GAIL only when the price is right. And it is not possible “The plant would likely be based at Mumbai or down
to sell all the shares in one go," he said, adding that an south in Chennai. The location would largely depend on
alternative to it is selling stake in ONGC-Petro Additions our majority customer base,” said Peter Dal Bo, chief
Ltd (OPaL). OPaL's 1.1 million tonnes capacity petrochem commercial officer for Piovan. He said local production
plant at Dahej in Gujarat was commissioned last year and would bring down delivery time, since equipment
has reached 100 per cent capacity in February. is currently shipped from Italy, and reduce costs
by eliminating import
"We have invested Rs 30,000 crore in the project and duties. The facility would
always had plans to sell a minimum of 26 per cent stake in likely be operating in the
the project to a strategic investor," the official said. "Now next 18 months. Piovan
that the plant has come up well and stabilised, this is the plans to bring greater
time to monetise it." The official said several companies responsibility to the India
including some global giants have evinced interest in unit. “We are also making
taking equity in the project. He however refused to name the India operation as a
the firms due to commercial reasons. Saudi and Kuwaiti service hub for the Asian
firms are said to be interested in taking a stake in the and Middle Eastern markets. We will initially begin with
project. The project was originally conceived in 2006 and basic machines customized to Indian conditions and raise
has witnessed cost and time overruns. the range over a period of time as per requirements of
It was initially planned to be built at a cost of Rs 12,440 the market,” he said. Piovan estimates India’s plastic
crore but ended up with actual investment of Rs 30,000 auxiliary equipment market at between 50 and 100
crore. ONGC was originally supposed to keep just 26 per million euros a year and growing at 8 to 10 percent
cent stake while gas utility GAIL was to take 19 per cent. 5 annually. The company has sales of about 2 million
per cent was to be taken by Gujarat State Petroleum Corp euros a year in the country, and is increasing about 10
(GSPC) and the remaining was to be sold to a strategic percent a year, he said, adding that the company hoped
investor.But GAIL ended up paying for only 9 per cent and to double that with the facility in the country.

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