Mumbai, Jan 16: Four firms are likely to be in the final race to take over NGEF Ltd. The final bids from companies seeking equity stake in the ailing outfit are being opened on January 17. The list of bidders include Jyoti Ltd of Baroda, Kirloskar Electric Company Ltd, Bangalore, the Easun Group and Klein & Marshal Manufacturers and Exporters of Chennai. If NGEF could forge deals with these firms, the entire equity dilution process will be completed during the current fiscal.It is not immediately known whether these four companies eye for NGEF in its entirety. The bidders have the option to bid for divisions of NGEF and its wholly-owned subsidiary at Hubli in Karnataka.
These four companies were in advanced stages of reviewing the brand equity of NGEF and financial position of the company.
While, Jyoti is into the home appliance equipments manufacturing business, Easun Reyroll Ltd, a part of the Easun Group, has a facility in Hosur in Tamil Nadu and Klein & Marshal has interest in undertaking contractsfrom state electricity boards.
SBI Caps sources said the final picture would be available only after Monday evening when the company opened the bids in the presence of Karnataka state government officials.
In fact, many companies were unhappy about the delay in finalising the shortlisted firms. SBI Caps is the nodal agency to find the suitors for NGEF.Industry souces say the delay was due to the recession prevalent in the country. In addition to this, assembly polls for the new state government had also forced NGEF to go slow with the privatisation plans.
As many as seven firms including some foreign companies had submitted their bids on `expression of interest' (EOI).
A couple of years back when the company was up for sale, Kirloskar Electric, Bharat Heavy Electricals and ABB had evinced a keen interset to pick up a part of the Karnataka government stake in the company. But these firms were unhappy with the Karnataka government's offer of 51 per cent.
Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.