Calcutta, Dec. 13 :    Calcutta, Dec. 13:  The three promoters of Haldia Petrochemicals Limited (HPL), including Purnendu Chatterjee, have arrived at a consensus to invite Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) as the fourth equity partner. The agreement was reached last Friday in IOC chairman M. A. Pathan's Delhi office at a meeting attended by Chatterjee, state commerce and industry secretary Jawhar Sircar, Firdose Vandrevala, deputy MD of Tisco (new and allied business) and HPL chairman Tarun Das. A consensus means a willingness to hand over management control of Haldia Petro to the state-owned oil major, though neither the state government, nor The Chatterjee Group (TCG) would say so at this stage. Senior IOC officials expressed happiness that the long-festering issue could be resolved to mutual satisfaction. 'It is a win-win situation for us. We are happy over the recent developments,' they told The Telegraph. IOC has now asked KPMG Peat Marwick to work out a new proposal for investing in HPL. 'The state government had asked us to take a fresh look at the project's cost and equity. We have told KPMG that the new proposal should be based on the fact that an agreement between the promoters has emerged. What is clear is that IOC will have management control,' they added. The consultant had earlier carried out a due diligence of HPL and said it was worth investing in. IOC's first proposal fixed the project cost of HPL at Rs 4,800 crore and equity at Rs 1,480 crore. The state government, in contrast, fixed the project cost at Rs 5,600 crore for a company with a Rs 2,000-crore authorised share capital. Sources say the deadlock was broken after Chatterjee, who has been opposed to giving IOC a 26 per cent stake with management control, was persuaded to accept the proposition. 'There was an understanding that a mutually acceptable formula must be worked out immediately. Last week's agreement helped expand the scope of discussions.,' the sources said. IOC's new proposal is likely to be ready in a week or two, but the company has asked the state government to work out ways of stake acquisition. 'Bengal is keen to put an end to the impasse at HPL. We would like to help as much as we can,' the sources added. What has helped matters more is the readiness of HPL's lenders to accept IOC as the fourth equity partner. 'The banks and financial institutions have invested Rs 4,000 crore as loans and advances. We have a say in the project, and prefer IOC as a partner,' senior officials of Industrial Development Bank of India said. Officials of the state commerce and industry department said: 'We would not like to comment until all the pieces of the plan have fallen into place. Hopefully, we should clinch a deal by the end of this month.' Though no comments came from TCG, Chatterjee is believed to have sought more time from the state government to pay Rs 107 crore in advance against equity. He missed the December 12 deadline for doing so.