The handover of Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd. (NINL) to the Tata group company TSLP on Monday marked the conclusion of NINL’s privatisation, according to the Finance Ministry.

The handover of Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd. (NINL) to the Tata group company TSLP on Monday marked the conclusion of NINL’s privatisation, according to the Finance Ministry.

The present administration’s second successful privatisation was NINL. Tata Group also acquired Air India, the first entity on the list of privatisations.

Tata Steel Long Products (TSLP) was announced as the successful bidder in January after submitting bids totaling Rs 12,100 crore for the loss-making NINL, a joint venture of four CPSEs (MMTC, NMDC, BHEL, and MECON), as well as two government PSUs from the state of Odisha, OMC and IPICOL.

The transfer of 93.71% of the joint venture partners’ shares to the strategic buyer, M/s Tata Steel Long Products Ltd, marked the completion of the NINL Strategic Disinvestment transaction, according to the ministry.

According to the terms of the share purchase agreement, the Rs 12,100 crore was used to pay off the debts of the following parties: employees, operational creditors, secured financial creditors, sellers (operational and financial dues), and equity holders who were selling their shares.

With a 49.78% ownership, MMTC was the largest shareholder in NINL, followed by NMDC (10.10%), BHEL (0.68%), and MECON (0.68 per cent). In addition, two PSUs owned by the government of Odisha held, respectively, 20.47 and 12 percent of NINL.

On March 10, the buyer, NINL, and the six selling shareholders signed the share purchase agreement. Subsequently, the parties worked to fulfil the terms of the SPA, which included certification of operational creditor’s dues, employee’s dues, sellers’ operational and financial dues.