Dubai : Oil India Ltd, a state-owned explorer, hired seven banks including Citigroup Inc and Morgan Stanley to help complete an overseas acquisition this fiscal year as it seeks to boost the country's energy security.
"We are big on acquisitions," Finance Director T.K. Ananth Kumar told reporters at a conference in Mumbai yesterday. The banks, including Deutsche Bank AG, BNP Paribas, Nomura Bank International Plc and Merrill Lynch, were appointed about a month ago, he said. He didn't identify one bank.
Acquisition request
The government has asked Oil India and Oil & Natural Gas Corp, the country's biggest exploration company, to each make at least one acquisition this year to meet demand in Asia's second-fastest growing major economy. India plans to set up a sovereign wealth fund to help state-run explorers compete with Chinese rivals for overseas energy assets.
Oil India is also looking at buying shale-gas assets in the US and Australia, Kumar said. Spending this year, including acquisitions, may reach 45 billion rupees (Dh3.5 billion), he said.
Oil India shares rose 1 per cent to 1,441.05 rupees at 2.13pm in Mumbai trading after gaining as much as 2.4 per cent. The stock has climbed 16 per cent this year compared with a four per cent increase in the benchmark Sensitive Index.
The explorer has $2.5 billion (Dh9.1 billion) in cash available for acquisitions and almost no debt, Kumar said. .
Oil India's strategy is to focus on acquiring producing assets in various areas, including Africa and Southeast Asia, Chairman N.M. Borah said in April.
