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Centre's Jessop on the block

Debjoy Sengupta

The government has decided to sell its stake in Jessop & Co Ltd, a subsidiary of Bharat Bhari Udyog Nigam Ltd, to a strategic partner. The company has already published an expression of interest for selling the company to private parties. The sell-off could also be in the form of handing over units to different bidders, as the case may be.

Meanwhile, the company has successfully reduced it staff strength from an odd 2,800 to 1,242 through its recently announced voluntary retirement scheme. The outgo on this account is to the tune of Rs 640 million, sources said. The VRS, explains officers from BBUNL, will be financed by government-backed debts floated by the company.

R P Singh, chairman, Bharat Bhari Udyog Nigam Ltd, said, "Now that we have shed the staff strength by half, this company has evoked some interest among bidders." In fact, some nine odd companies have already shown interest in taking up management stake in JCL. Interested parties will be asked to put in funds before the process of due diligence is initiated, explained Singh.

Burn Standard Company Ltd, another subsidiary of BBUNL, had burnt its fingers while trying to sell one of its holding companies, RBL Ltd. BSCL announced its strategic sale only after it had completed its due diligence. While there were no takers for the company, RBL lost money in the process. There are no takers for the company till now.

BBUNL, with as many as 10 subsidiaries, is systematically putting all its companies on sale. Although there has been no takers for a single company, it closed down Lagan Jute Mill some times back, while BSCL has also closed down six refractory units and an offshore Jellingham unit.

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