Episode du 14/05
Govt panel meet on Cairn-Vedanta deal likely on May 27: Sources
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NEW DELHI: A panel of ministers is likely to meet on May 27 to consider Cairn Energy's sale of a majority stake in its India unit to Vedanta Resources , government sources said on Friday.
Cairn and Vedanta have a May 20 deadline for the $9.6 bn deal.
Cairn India declined comment. Cairn Energy and Vedanta were not immediately available for comment.
Cairn Energy agreed in August 2010 to sell a majority stake in Cairn India to Vedanta, but the deal has been delayed due to a dispute over royalty payments with Cairn India's partner, state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp.
ONGC, which has a 30 percent holding in the Cairn-operated Rajasthan fields in western India, pays 100 percent of the royalties.
The ministers' panel is looking into two options suggested by the oil ministry to allow approval of the deal -- either to give conditional clearance with a 70:30 split in royalties or to clear the deal and separately sort out the royalty issue.
Last month, India referred the deal to the panel of ministers, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, whose recommendations would be submitted to the cabinet for a final decision.
India's oil ministry has been pushing to share the royalty burden between ONGC and Cairn India but this is opposed by both Cairn and Vedanta. Any change in the royalty structure would impact valuations and could jeopardise the deal, analysts have said.