Mumbai, December 05: Giving an in-principle approval for strategic disinvestment of defence public sector undertaking BEML Ltd, the government on Thursday revealed that disinvestment would be to the extent of 26 per cent out of the government shareholding of 54.03 per cent with transfer of management control to the strategic buyer.
BEML Ltd serves core sectors such as defence, rail, power, mining and infrastructure. The company operates under three major business verticals, mining and construction, defence, and rail and metro.
Some organisations have made certain representations against the aforesaid disinvestment proposal of BEML Ltd. However, disinvestments through strategic sale are considered based on recommendations of NITI Aayog after taking into consideration all aspects of the matter.
While the Transaction Advisor, Legal Advisor and Asset Valuer are appointed as per the procedure and mechanism laid down for this purpose, the Expression of Interest and Preliminary Information Memorandum document have been prepared by the appointed Advisors and submitted to the Government.
The unions and associations in the company, however, have raised questions over the government’s move to privatise the company which has been making profits from its inception. The government had given approval for the strategic disinvestment of BEML in November 2016. Since then, the unions have been opposing the government’s move to privatise such an important company.