Calcutta, Oct 2 :    Calcutta, Oct 2:  IBP Ltd, the Rs 6,800 crore stand-alone oil marketing company, is planning to acquire the lubricant division of its subsidiary, Balmer Lawrie & Co. The proposal, if approved, will make the Calcutta-based public sector company the third largest lubricant seller in the domestic market after Indian Oil and Castrol India. At the same time, there are plans to transfer IBP's engineering businesses to Balmer Lawrie. A senior IBP official said the move is contemplated to strengthen the core competencies of both the companies. 'It is difficult for Balmer Lawrie to grow its lubricant division without IBP's support in a market where more than 20 brands are competing. At the same time, the engineering business does not belong to our core areas. Engineering can achieve its best growth in Balmer Lawrie,' he said. The proposal, if approved by the IBP board, will be sent to the government for final clearance, he added. IBP wants the business restructuring plan to be approved by the government before any decision is taken regarding disinvestment in the company. Balmer Lawrie's lubricant brand - Balmerol, which was relaunched in April 1999, recorded a 8 per cent growth. The company has four plants at Silvassa, Calcutta, Mumbai and Chennai. The company has made substantial investment over the last couple of years to modernise all its lube plants. On the other hand, IBP's flagship lube brand - IBP Red has registered a 11 per cent growth last year by selling 33,679 metric tonnes of lubes. IBP has also introduced two other brands, IBP Dot 3 and IBP Cool. The company has 150 exclusive lube shops. Petroleum and lubes business contribute 90 per cent of the business to the company. Presently, IBP has two other divisions, chemical and engineering. It is planning to hive off engineering and chemical business units into separate companies before they could be either sold off or put into joint ventures. A decision has been taken regarding the chemical division. Sources said this division had incurred a loss of Rs 26 crore in 1999-2000 on a turnover of Rs 120 crore. IBP will bear the restructuring cost, which is around Rs 50 crore, for the chemical division. The oil major is believed to be in talks with multinational chemical giant Oreka through ICI and Hinduja-owned IDL Ltd for equity participation in the proposed chemical company. Regarding the engineering unit, a decision may be taken in the next board meeting. This division recorded 8 per cent growth at Rs 16.06 crore in 1999-2000, which is microscopic considering the overall turnover of the oil major. The engineering and project division of Balmer Lawrie registered a turnover of Rs 44 crore during the same period.