As Niti Aayog Readies List Of 50 PSU Assets For Rs 90,000 Crore Divestment, FinMin Seeks Firms’ Advice On Sale

Moving ahead with its plans to achieve a disinvestment target of Rs 90,000 crore for the financial year 2019-20, Union Finance Ministry has invited bids seeking advisory services to help monetise non-core and fixed assets, such as land and buildings, of public sector enterprises (PSU).

In 2018-19, the Union Government collected Rs 85,000 crore from divestment proceeds.

A Request for Empanelment (RFE) has been floated by the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) to empanel international property consultancy firms or consulting firms engaged in transaction advisory services, asset monetisation or project management.

The firms are expected to lend expertise to DIPAM in order to prepare a strategic plan for monetisation for the land and building assets, conduct techno-economic feasibility studies of each of the assets, providing end-to-end transaction advisory services and ensure completion of transactions.

Firms with at least five transaction advisory projects in their portfolio in the last 10 years pertinent to monetisation of land and building can apply. Also, firms with experience in REIT listing can apply, entities - fulfilling the same experience criteria - regarding monetisation of property assets of reputed public/private organisations or public private partnership transactions would be eligible to apply.

The deadline for submission of bids is 1 July.

Niti Aayog has identified more than 50 assets including land and industrial plants of state-owned enterprises NTPC, Cement Corporation of India, Bharat Earth Movers Ltd. and Steel Authority of India that could be put on the block. The list was compiled by Niti Aayog in consultation with the secretaries of nodal ministries.

Among the assets identified for likely sale includes the closed NTPC’s Badarpur plant which owns about 400 acres of land.

DIPAM also identified some assets that were hived off from companies such as Scooters India, Bharat Pumps and Compressors, Project and Development India, Hindustan Prefab, Hindustan Newsprint, Bridge and Roof Co, and Hindustan Fluorocarbons. These firms are now up for strategic sale.

In February, the Union cabinet had cleared the institutional framework for monetisation of non-core assets of state-owned companies under strategic disinvestment.