The Board of West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) on 19 October 2012 gave nod to the sale of state government's shares in Haldia Petrochemicals (HPL) through auction route.
The state government is likely to sell the shares as early as possible and a transaction adviser would be appointed for arriving at the valuation of the company's shares. The state government has 39.9 per cent stake in HPL, while The Chatterjee Group (TCG) owns around 37 per cent. As the process would be through the auction route, the highest bid value would be offered to the other principal promoter TCG to exercise the first right of refusal. If the TCG refused to buy shares at that price, then the shares would be offered to the highest bidder.