Hindustan Organic Chemicals found itself in the spotlight in early trades on Monday after the Centre re-invited initial bids for stake in the company.

By 10:17 IST, HOCL surged 6.08% to Rs 20.95. It registered volumes of 72,700 shares on BSE by then.

The Centre has re-invited bids for divestment of 32.61% stake in the company. At present, it holds 58.6% stake in the company. The public and institutions hold 26.2% and 8.67% in the company's equity, respectively.

Interested parties are required to submit expressions of interest by 17 February 2003.

Initial bids had first been called in early 2001. But now the Centre has decided to go in for a short re-bidding process to enable other interested parties to take advantage of the financial restructuring programme approved by the Union Cabinet for the company. The 'in principle approval' for the turnaround package is subject to finalisation of divestment of the government stake.

The government has also promised cash support to the extent of Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) and non-cash support of Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) towards improving the financial position of the company.

Incorporated in 1960 to give an impetus to the development of downstream units in sectors such as dyes, drugs, pharmaceuticals and rubber chemicals. The first unit was set up at Rasayani, Maharashtra, and subsequently, another at Cochin, Kerala (in 1988). HOCL procured technologies from Japan, UK, US and Germany to manufacture quality products with maximum efficiency.

HOCL's present product line includes nitroaromatics, phenol, acetone, aniline and acetanilide. A public issue was made in November 1994 to finance a project to manufacture caustic soda, hydrogen peroxide and chlorosulphonic acid. The company has technical collaborations with Asahi Chemicals, Japan, for its caustic soda/chlorine project; with Uhde, Germany, for its hydrogen peroxide project being set up at Cochin, Kerala; and with Baxenden Chemicals, UK, for its polyurethane systems.

HOCL's products have been exported to a large number of countries including China, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, the UK, the US, Switzerland, etc. The company's Cochin unit has been accredited with ISO-9002 certification for its phenol and acetone products.

For the second quarter ended 30 September 2002, the company lowered its losses by 85.58% to Rs 1.86 crore compared to Rs 12.90 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. Net sales rose by 37.6% to Rs 103.21 crore form (Rs 1.03 billion) Rs 74.99 crore in SQ 2001.