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BSES asks IDBI to refund DPC due diligence fees

Mumbai-based BSES Limited, one of the seven prospective bidders in the fray for acquiring the 85 per cent foreign equity stake in Dabhol Power Company, on Monday confirmed that it had written a letter to the IDBI-led consortium of lenders, seeking a refund of Rs 4.7 million paid as due diligence fees at the time of submission of expression of interest for the $3 billion power project at Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra.

Sources in the company said the refund was sought in view of the inordinate delays that had taken place in the commencement of due diligence activity.

''Nothing has been working as per the assurance and schedule given by IDBI to the bidders at the time of acceptance of the EoIs,'' sources alleged.

IDBI, acting as a facilitator of the DPC sell-out process, had earlier publicly pronounced that the due digilence work would start by the first week of March and specified February 7 as the last date of submission of EoI in a nationwide advertisement in newspapers.

However, IDBI reportedly accepted EoIs from three parties even after the closure of the last date of entry on February 7 of which British Petroleum is the latest.

Asked about the reason behind the delay in starting due diligence, IDBI executive director A K Doda told UNI on the sidelines of a global seminar in Mumbai, ''Its a big job. It would take time.''

Doda made the observation knowing that the DPC loan portfolio with several financial insitutions and banks would turn into non-performing assets from April if the present owners, led by the bankrupted Enron Corporation of US, fail to make the interest payment of the January-March quarter this month.

BSES' action, likely to be followed up by few others in future, assumed importance in the wake of the recent communication from IDBI that the starting of due diligence would get delayed and may not be possible for the next couple of weeks.

Besides BSES, the other seven major contenders for the project are Tata Power, Reliance, GAIL, Shell, Gaz De France, British Gas and British Petroleum.

UNI

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