ICICI Securities has been selected to advise the Finance Ministry on two merger and acquisition (M&A) deals, an official said.
Six firms — Ernst & Young LLP, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, ICICI Securities, IDBI Capital Market and Securities, SBI Capital Markets and RBSA Capital Advisor LLP — had made presentations before the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) on November 26.
“ICICI Securities has been selected as an advisor on two merger and acquisition deals to be done by the Finance Ministry,” an official said.
The selection of the advisor would help DIPAM cut down the procedural time for going ahead with M&A once the companies are finalised.
“Once the companies are finalised, the advisor can start due diligence process which will help save time,” the official added.
The DIPAM is racing against time to meet the Rs 80,000-crore disinvestment target. So far this fiscal, it has raised over Rs 32,000 crore from minority stake sale in CPSEs and follow-on offer of CPSE ETF and Bharat-22 ETF.
The government is looking at two merger and acquisition deals in the energy sector — REC acquiring Power Finance Corporation and NTPC acquiring Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN).
DIPAM had in October floated a request for proposal (RFP) to engage one advisor from consulting firms/investment bankers/merchant bankers for assisting it in the process of the two M&As.
The selected advisor would assist the government on modalities of disinvestment and the timing; and prepare business valuation of companies, as well as suggest measures to fetch optimum value.
Once the proposal comes from the administrative ministry for M&A, it would go to the Core Group of Secretaries on Disinvestment (CGD) and then to the cabinet, an official said.
Source: Business-Standard