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Govt for resolving ONGC issue before nod to Cairn-Vedanta deal
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NEW DELHI: Amidst a scramble to meet deadlines, the government on Tuesday said legitimate concerns of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) will need to be addressed before it can approve Vedanta Resources' USD 9.6 billion acquisition of Cairn India.
With time running out, Bill Gammell , the Chief Executive Officer of Cairn Energy, which is selling up to a 51% stake in its Indian unit to Vedanta, met Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy to press for an early decision.
"I told him (Gammell) that the government would support the deal in-principle, but some of the concerns of ONGC need to be addressed before clearing the deal," Reddy told reporters here. "He (Gammell) seemed satisfied."
ONGC, by virtue of its stake in 8 out of the 10 oil and gas properties held by Cairn India, claims that it has preemption rights over the deal. It wants the issue of excess royalty it has to pay on Cairn India's mainstay Rajasthan block to be addressed before giving its no-objection.
"We cannot be opposed to (Cairn Energy) selling (its) shares (in Cairn India) ONGC is not prepared to buy (Cairn Energy stake) at the price (Vedanta is paying)," Reddy said. "Given these conditions, we need to see that concerns of ONGC are substantially and legitimately addressed."
The deal, involving Vedanta acquiring a 40% to 51% stake from UK's Cairn Energy Plc and thereafter making an open offer to buy an additional 20% from minority shareholders of Cairn India, is to be completed by April 15.
To meet the deadline, government approval for the deal needs to come within this month so that Vedanta can meet the 55-60 days' timeframe mandated by market regulator SEBI for completion of the open offer.
Gammell described the talks with Reddy as "positive and constructive", but said Cairn will not go to its shareholders for extending the April 15 deadline to close the Vedanta deal.
"We would not go back to our shareholders," he said. The Rajasthan block, which gives Cairn India 90 per cent of its valuation, is a losing proposition for ONGC, as it has to pay 20% royalty to the state government on the entire output from the field, even though its share of production is only 30%.
The Oil Ministry has made resolution of the royalty issue one of the 11 preconditions for giving its nod. Cairn/Vedanta are opposed to ONGC's demand for recovering the royalty before profits from the sale of Rajasthan oil are split, as it will lower Cairn India's profitability and valuation.