Calcutta, Oct. 23: West Bengal Electronics Development Corporation Limited (Webel) will soon float tenders to divest its stake in two of its subsidiaries, Webel Consumer Electronics Limited and Webel Communication Industries Limited (Webcom). The company expects the tendering process to continue till the year-end.

Webel has been trying to attract private players for a long time to revive these two companies.

It is in talks with big players like LG, Samsung and Videocon.

“We are about to initiate the tendering process to find suitable private partners. The two companies have 200 employees and we will have certain clauses in the tenders to safeguard their interests. We will also possibly put in a qualifying criteria that the applicant should have experience in the electronics industry for five to six years and maybe willing to invest Rs 100 crore to bring the units back on track,” said Debanjan Dutta, managing director, Webel.

Webel Consumer Electronics has a built-up area of 2600 sq m and 1.69 acre plot in Sector V of Salt Lake.

Considering the high demand for land at sector V, Webel does not want private firms to buy the two companies for their real estate value. Therefore, it is necessary to put in qualifying safeguards, Dutta said.

Webel has an area of 2.6 lakh sq ft in SDF building, 70,000 sq ft at the STP-II building and 40,000 sq ft in Webel Bhavan in Sector V.

In 2004, Korean electronics firm LG Electronics India Pvt Ltd called off its partnership with Webel to make colour televisions (CTVs) citing operational bottlenecks.

Under the partnership, LG was to manufacture 0.1 million CTVs at Webel’s premises. These were to be sold under the LG brand. LG was also looking at similar tieups for washing machines and refrigerators to cater to the eastern region.

Incorporated in 1981, Webel Consumer Electronics makes colour television and DVDs.

Webcom was the first to bring in the German technology to manufacture electronic push button telephones.

Two of Webel’s subsidiaries, Webel Toolsind and Webel Power Electronics, are set to be closed by early November.