There was major speculation over the past couple of days over the BPCL stake sale.

The market seemed to have drawn its conclusion that Reliance Industries would bid and takeover. But in reality, Reliance did not bid at all!

What we learn is that Saudi’s Aramco too which had earlier evinced interest did not bid and neither did UK’s BP and France’s Total. Russia’s Rosneft-led Nayara Energy also did not put in a bid as it had indicated that it was not interested .

The Govt has not released the names of the bidder so at the moment it is mere speculation as to who has bid and who hasn’t.

Yesterday was the deadline for companies to put in their bids and the Govt said that it had received a “good response.”

BPCL is the top loser on the BSE since opening bell, going down 5% to Rs.392.35. Its 10% LC for the day is at Rs.371.45.