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DPC agrees to meet FIs after a day-long drama

BS Bureaux

In a day of dramatic developments, the Enron-promoted Dabhol Power Company initially decided against attending a meeting convened by the Indian financial institutions in Singapore in retaliation to a case lodged against it at the Bombay high court, but subsequently, reversed its stand.

"The Indian government and the institutions informed us that there will be a new proposal from the latter to buy Enron's equity in Dabhol Power Company," said a senior official of DPC.

FI sources, though, confirmed that DPC representatives had agreed to attend the meeting in Singapore, but denied that they had agreed to come up with a new proposal to buy Enron's equity.

"It is going to be a closed door meeting where various issues will be discussed," they said, but declined to reveal further details.

Earlier in the day, DPC had issued a statement saying that it had called off the scheduled meeting with the Indian financial institutions in Singapore on Thursday and Friday following a case lodged in the Bombay high court by the latter.

Indian financial institutions and banks had filed a case in the High Court pleading for an injunction against DPC. They had asked the Court to restrain DPC from serving the final termination notice to the Maharashtra State Electricity Board.

Earlier this week, DPC had served a transfer of assets notice, thereby, setting the stage for serving the final termination notice.

Tata Power and BSES, the two companies which have evinced keen interest in buying Enron's 65 per cent stake in DPC, are also slated to attend the meeting. The proposals of these two companies are likely to be discussed at the meeting.

Earlier, DPC had said it was "disappointed" with the legal action taken by the Indian lenders. DPC had also expressed surprise that the legal action had been initiated on the eve of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's visit to the US.

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