The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has said in a written letter that it wants to divest its stake in Petronet LNG. The letter was written to the promoters of the gas trading and distributing company.

At present, ADB has 5 per cent stake in Petronet and the value of it is 444 crore rupees. The bank wants the other stakeholders like IOC, ONGC, BPCL and GAIL, to takeover this stake.

The four Indian fuel companies are holding 12.5 per cent stake each in Petronet and their combined stake in 50 per cent.

But, as per the regulatory requirements, the four Indian companies cannot hold more than 50 per cent stake at a given point of time. Given this situation, it is not sure how can this deal ever materlise.

Besides these, the other stakeholder in Petronet is GDF SUEZ which has 10 per cent stake. The European company, however, is just a strategic partner and does not have much of a say in the working of the company.

The rest stake is divided between ADB and other public and financial institution which hold 5.2 per cent and 34.8 per cent respectively.