Mittal to invest Rs32 billion for stake in HPCL Bhatinda Refinery

New Delhi:
20 February 2007

New Delhi: Mittal Arcelor's CEO and major shareholder, L N Mittal, will invest Rs3,200 crore in taking 49-per cent stake in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited's (HPCL) $3-billion Bhatinda Refinery.

HPCL and Mittal will each hold a 49-per cent stake in Bhatinda Refinery, while financial institutions will hold 2 per cent.

Both the major shareholders will invest over Rs1,000 crore each. HPCL has already invested about Rs500 crore in the Bhatinda Project.

The HPCL-Mittal combine would lay a 1,100-km crude oil pipeline from Mundra port in Gujarat to Bhatinda and build a crude oil terminal and associated facilities at an estimated cost of $600 million.

In the event of HPCl divesting its stake, Mittal investment will have the option to buy buy it out at a price determined by experts.

In the past, Saudi Aramco of Saudi Arabia had exited from talks as potential joint venture partner in 1998 followed by BP Plc of UK in March 2006.