Cairn-Vedanta deal may get delayed further

[bingogo]

Raj Kumar Sahu, September 26, 2011 (New Delhi)

It is nearly three months since the cabinet approved the $ 9 billion Cairn-Vedanta deal on June 30, 2011.

The cabinet had asked the companies to seal the deal by end of September which included securing approvals from all government agencies and ONGC, a partner in the Rajasthan block.

But it looks like the government may have to push the deadline with the deal yet to get all approvals in place.

Sources say, anticipating the delays, Cairn have written a letter to oil ministry for being accommodative, should the approvals from ONGC, Law Ministry and Home ministry are not forthcoming by the end of September.

Sources add that the timeline for completing all formalities, after ONGC board meet on 27th September for granting the No Objection Certificate (NOC) to the deal, is only three days.

Also, after the NOC from ONGC, Cairn-Vedanta will have to get the Home ministry's approval again. And needless to mention the reworked guarantee form, that Vedanta need to sign, is also yet to be finalized by the law ministry.

Sources say, Cairn's anticipation of delays may be right, as even ONGC's no objection certificate for the Cairn-Vedanta deal may not come on Tuesday, as ONGC may not send the NOC directly to Cairn Energy, and send it to the oil ministry first for vetting, so even that will eat up a day or two from the 3-day window Cairn have.

And there are more surprises. ONGC board is only expected to take up the issue after its project appraisal committee gives its recommendations on September 27 which means that Cairn can only hope that everything falls in place on Tuesday without a hitch.


Read more at: http://profit.ndtv.com/news/show/cairn- ... -179704?cp