The Union government has invited 17 investment bankers to make presentations for the divestment of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd on February 17 and 18.

This could be the largest-ever such exercise conducted for a divestment.

The list of investment bankers include Who's Who of the Indian financial sector: JM Morgan Stanley, DSP Merrill Lynch, Salomon Smith Barney, Kotak Mahindra, JP Morgan, UBS Warburg, ANZ Grindlays, Deutsche Bank, ABN Amro, Ernst & Young, KPMG, Deloitte, Lazard India, Ambit Finance, Rabo Finance and SBI Capital Markets.

Each of them have been allotted a half-hour slot to make their presentations.

The investment bankers will make their presentations to the inter-ministerial group comprising members of the divestments committee, ministry of finance and the ministry of petroleum & gas.

The Union government recently set the ball rolling for the privatization of the oil major by inviting expressions of interest for selling its 34.01 per cent stake in the company to a strategic partner along with transfer of management control.

Entities seeking to bid for acquiring the second-largest oil company in the country have been asked to submit their expressions of interest by March 17. HPCL has a market share of 23 per cent in the retail sector and 31 per cent in the lube sector.

According to analysts, the strategic disinvestment in HPCL is expected to fetch the government at least Rs 8,000 crore (Rs 80 billion).

As on April 1, 2002, HPCL had 4,729 petrol pumps, 1,638 kerosene depots all over the country, 1,822 liquefied petroleum gas agencies and 50 bottling plants of its own.