Leading national and global merchant bankers on Monday started making presentations before the divestment ministry for becoming advisors for divestment of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.

As many as 17 aspirants including Merill Lynch, J P Morgan, SBI Caps and ICICI have bid for becoming advisors for the privatisation of HPCL where the government would sell controlling stake along with management control to a strategic partner.

While public sector oil companies like Oil and Natural Gas Coproration have been kept out of the race, leading corporate group Reliance has already expressed its interest to bid for HPCL.

The presentations by the aspirants in front of divestment secretary Pradeep Baijal and his team of officials would be concluded by Tuesday, sources associated with the process said.

The government has decided to divest 34 per cent of its 51 per cent stake in HPCL to a strategic partner.

Besides, the government would offer five per cent equity to employees at concessional price, after which it would be left with 12 per cent equity in the oil PSU, which has about 20 per cent retail market share in India and a refining capacity of 13 million tonnes.

The process of selecting advisors follows the invitation for expressions of interest for the government's stake in HPCL.

As per the pre-eligibility criteria for EoI, whose last date is March 17, the bidders - either alone or in a consortium - would have to have net worth of at least Rs 2,500 crore (Rs 25 billion).

In case of a consortium, networth of only those partners would be taken into account who intend to have 10 per cent stake in the join bid.