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MUMBAI, Jan. 29

AFTER long-drawn haggling, the sale process of the promoters' stake in Dabhol Power Company (DPC) appears all set to take off with prospective bidders expected to sign a confidentiality pact with DPC tomorrow.

All six interested parties will sign the confidentiality agreement tomorrow and the due diligence will begin, a top IDBI official said.

"All parties have agreed to sign the agreement. There were some differences but now everything has been sorted out. The pact will be signed tomorrow,'' the official said.

He added that even though no specific date has been fixed for the bids to come in, due diligence would start immediately. There are a total of six prospective bidders who have expressed interest. They are Tata Power, BSES, GAIL, Gaz de France, TotalFinaElf and Royal Dutch Shell.

Even though Tata Power and GAIL have put in individual expressions of interest, the two are understood to be interested in joint bidding. Similarly, Gaz de France has also said that it would like to bid with an Indian partner.

Commenting on the confidentiality agreement, Mr R V Shahi, Chairman and Managing Director, BSES, said, "the draft has been finalised. There were a few doubts but most have been satisfactorily cleared. We are awaiting the final draft. The agreement will be signed tomorrow.''

About the issue of removal of e-chips and computer drives, the IDBI official said the institution wanted to take "joint possession'' of the gadgets. However, in deferment to the High Court's wishes, we did not push the matter''.

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