State Bank of India seeks bids for Videocon's overseas oil, gas assets

Aban Offshore

05/08/2019 08:09

MUMBAI, Aug 5 (Reuters) - The State Bank of India  SBI.NS 
has invited bids for overseas oil and gas assets of Videocon
Industries Ltd  VEDI.NS , a newspaper advertisement showed on
Monday, as India seeks to recover billions of dollars in loans
from the beleaguered private firm.
    Consumer electronics firm Videocon Industries is one of the
most indebted companies in India, with outstanding loans worth
around 600 billion rupees ($8.53 billion) from its financial and
operational creditors.
    In October, SBI Caps, the investment banking arm of State
Bank of India, was appointed to start the process of valuation
and monetisation of the firm's oil and gas assets overseas. 
    SBI said it had appointed consultant Deloitte to find buyers
for Videocon's exploration assets in Brazil and Indonesia.
    "It is a process where qualified parties from India and
overseas will be invited to bid for the assets," said a banker
involved in the process, adding that expressions of interest
would be received until Aug. 22. 
    Videocon did not immediately reply to calls seeking comment.
    Videocon Industries has oil and gas assets in India, Brazil
and Indonesia, in addition to its now-defunct consumer
electronics business in India. 
    The company ventured into Brazil and Mozambique oil and gas
assets over a decade ago, buoyed by its experience in oil
production in India's east coast.
    However, burgeoning debt forced the company to sell its
coveted asset in Mozambique to a consortium of Indian
state-owned companies led by Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd
 ONGC.NS  in 2014 for $2.4 billion.
    Separately, Deloitte has also invited bids for selling
drilling assets of Aban Offshore Ltd  ABAN.NS , an oil and gas
service provider, another newspaper advertisement showed. 
  
($1 = 70.5130 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
 ((promit.mukherjee@thomsonreuters.com; +91-22-6180-7516;
Reuters Messaging:
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