Calcutta, June 24 :    Calcutta, June 24:  Real estate baron Mahendra Jalan has pulled out of the race for Tide Water Oil, the Rs 186 crore lubricant major that the government is selling off. Jalan holds 14 per cent of Tide Water's equity, and had earlier said he would bid for the 42 per cent stake being divested by the government, Life Insurance Corporation and Unit Trust of India. Jalan had tied up with a multinational petroleum company to bid for Tide Water, but withdrew after his overseas partner was intimidated by the disturbances along the Indo-Pak border. Jalan now says, he may offload his 14 per cent stake in the open offer to be made by the acquirer of the company. Jalan said, 'The last date for submission of 'Expression of Interest' (EoI) was June 3, when the Indo-Pak border was burning. Our partners said they were not interested in entering India unless the situation improved. We have no expertise in running a petroleum company. Hence bidding for it alone made no sense. 'The tension having subsided, our partner says it is willing to bid for Tide Water now. We have requested the government to extend the deadline for filing of EoI. We have not heard from the government yet, but if allowed to enter the race now, we certainly will. 'I am told we were not the only bidders to have withdrawn from the race due to the then prevalent political tension. Normalcy having been restored, a number of other foreign companies may join the race if the entry to it is opened again.' There is no dearth of competitors anyhow. Besides, the leading government-owned oil companies, a host of multinationals have expressed their interest in Tide Water. The US-based Chevron Texaco group that holds 22 per cent stake in the company is understood to have filed a formal EoI. Chevron Texaco holds the shares of Tide Water through a group firm called Four Star Oil & Gas Company. Jalan said if he was not allowed to bid for Tide Water, he would sell off his stake to the new promoters of the company. 'I have already received some offers for my stake from mutual funds, but I will wait till the divestment is over,' he said. Tide Water, which posted a net profit of Rs 10.02 crore in 2001-02, was established in 1921 as an importer of lubricants from its US parent. The government-owned Andrew Yule controls 27.71 per cent of Tide Water. Its entire stake has been put on the block along with Unit Trust and Life Insurance Corporation's combined holding of 14.27 per cent. The company that acquires the 41.98 per cent stake will also gain management control. Tide Water controls about 5 per cent of the lubricant market in India, the industrial and automotive segments put together. It sells products under the Veedol and Nippon Mitsubishi brands. There is some concern among the bidders about Tide Water's control over these two brands in future. The Veedol brand is now owned worldwide by the Castrol-British Petroleum group, except in India. Castrol has already moved the Calcutta High Court objecting to the use of the Veedol brand by Tide Water in India. On the other hand, the legal arrangement with Mitsubishi for the use of the latter's brand is set to terminate in October next year.