Purnendu: Across the table

Calcutta, Dec. 19: Purnendu Chatterjee may submit his compromise proposal before the Haldia Petrochem board at a meeting to be held tomorrow in New Delhi.

The meeting is just weeks ahead of the company law board hearing, scheduled for January 12 and 13. This is also the first board meeting after Purnendu Chatterjee, The Chatterjee Group (TCG) chief and one of the principal promoters of Haldia Petrochemicals (HPL), met Bengal industry minister Nirupam Sen for a truce talk last month.

Sources said Chatterjee may offer to buy out the Bengal government?s 36.87 per cent stake in HPL. The interesting feature of the proposal would be the price Purnendu is ready to pay.

The company law board had urged both the state and HPL to work out a compromise formula.

Earlier, the government had asked Purnendu to pay Rs 28.50 per share, which works out to a total of Rs 1,560 crore.

Chatterjee will also indicate if he is withdrawing the CLB case during the meeting tomorrow.

?If he continues with the case, the Bengal government may not accept his proposal,? state government sources said.

?If he does not withdraw the suit, status-quo will be maintained. We are not in a hurry to sell our stake to anybody, even though there are many takers. We will wait for the CLB verdict,? they said.

Chatterjee had moved the CLB challenging the sale of 7.5 per cent in HPL to Indian Oil Corporation for Rs 150 crore. The TCG chief was not keen on bringing in IOC, a public sector company, as a strategic partner in HPL.

The total equity size of HPL is Rs 1,410 crore. Of this, Bengal holds 36.87 per cent (Rs 520 crore), The Chatterjee Petrochem Mauritius 30.7 per cent (Rs 433 crore), The Chatterjee Petrochem India 10.99 per cent (Rs 155 crore) and Tatas 3.19 per cent (Rs 45 crore). The remaining 18.22 per cent (Rs 257 crore) is held by the friends and associates of TCG.

The board will also discuss the company?s plan to expand HPL?s capacity and to review its performance for the first half of the current fiscal.