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New Delhi : The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) empowered Alternative Mechanism (AM) comprising Nitin Jairam Gadkari, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister;  Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister; and Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent charge) Ministry of Science and Technology, has approved the highest price bid of M/s Nandal Finance and Leasing Pvt Ltd for sale of 100% equity shareholding of GoI in Central Electronics Ltd (CEL), a CPSE under the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). The winning bid is for Rs 210.60 crore.

The process for disinvestment of CEL commenced on October 27, 2016, with the ‘in-principle’ approval of CCEA. In the first iteration, due process was followed for strategic sale of CEL, and the final SPA, along with ‘Request for Proposal’ document were shared with the Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) on May 2, 2019, inviting financial bid by June 20, 2019.  However, no financial bids were received.

The process was re-launched on February 3, 2020, with issue of Preliminary Information Memorandum (PIM) and request for Expressions of Interest (EOI). The last date of submission of EoI was extended to July 15, 2020, due to prevailing covid-19 situation, according to a PIB release.

Three EOIs were received by the extended last date (15.07.2020). All the bidders were shortlisted by the TA. The Alternative Mechanism (AM) on January 7, 2021, approved the revised SPA and the revised Request for Proposal (RFP) and authorised DIPAM to issue the revised RFP and revised SPA to the Transaction Adviser (TA) for further action, and issue any clarifications thereon, if required. The approved RFP and SPA were shared with the TA for issuing to the short-listed bidders for placing financial bid, along with the proforma for obtaining Security Clearance.

The shortlisted bidders were given access to the Virtual Data Room (VDR) through which CEL provided comprehensive information to the qualified bidders who were also provided access to inspect the assets and facilities being offered as a part of the transaction. A large number of queries from bidders were responded to. After completion of the due diligence process, the TA issued the approved RFP and SPA along with the Security Clearance format to the short-listed bidders on February 17, 2021, with the last date of submission as March 10, 2021. The final SPA contained detailed terms and conditions and the respective responsibilities.

The last date of submission of financial bid was thereafter extended till October 12, 2021, due to disruptions caused by covid-19 and on the request from bidders. By the last date, two sealed bids were received along with non-financial bid documents and bid security from the two qualified bidders.

After receipt of sealed financial bids and in line with the approved procedure for strategic disinvestment, ‘Reserve Price’ of Rs 194 crore was fixed based on valuations by the Transaction Adviser (TA) and the Asset Valuer (AV) using respective methodologies as per the established process. After the independent fixation of Reserve Price, the already received sealed financial bids were opened in the presence of the bidders,