New Delhi: Refiner Indian Oil Corporation plans to sell back part of its stake in explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, following cabinet clearance for state-run firms to sell stakes in other energy companies.
"We would like to offer it in tranches. We don't need all the money now," IOC Chairman Sarthak Behuria told reporters on the sidelines of a oil conference in New Delhi on Friday.
The cabinet had decided on Thursday that some shares could be sold in the domestic equity market and some could be swapped between the companies, but the manner and timing of such sales would be left to the oil companies themselves.
ONGC Chairman, Subir Raha, said on Friday that his company was keen to buy back its own shares held by IOC and gas firm GAIL (India) Ltd.
"We may sell the first tranche in March, depending on the market sentiment," Behuria said. "We need to offload to reduce our debt burden of $5.25 billion."
India's top state-run energy companies have held stakes in each other since 1999, when the government divested part of its equity in them.
ONGC, India's most valuable company with a $32 billion market capitalisation, holds 9.6 per cent of IOC, the country's largest refiner, while IOC has 9.1 per cent of ONGC. GAIL holds 4.8 per cent of both ONGC and IOC.
Raha has said ONGC is not keen to sell its holding in IOC.
IOC shares were up 1.7 per cent at 505 rupees and ONGC was down 0.8 per cent at Rs 1,017.1 in a firm Mumbai market on Friday.
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