IOC offered 7.5% share in Haldia

West Bengal government has decided to offer a stake in Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) - 15 crore shares accounting for 7.5% stake in HPL are in the offering and IOC chairman Sarthak Behuria has been offered a berth on the board of HPL. State-owned IOC will acquire the West Bengal government's majority stake in HPL, once the state buys the stake from Purnendu Chatterjee, the present promoter of HPL. This brings Reliance Industries Limited's (RIL) plan to acquire a majority stake in HPL, to a dead end. Currently, the two principal stakeholders, the WB government and the Chatterjee group, are locked in a bitter battle for control of the company, with the case pending before the Company Law Board.