Merchant banker to the deal Warburg Dillon Read has recently drafted the final agreement after assessing the views of the bidders. Provisions in regard to the relationship between the strategic partner and the Government after the divestment are explained in the agreement, IPCL sources said.

Reliance Industries, Mitsubishi Corporation, IOC-Soros Chatterjee Consortium and Dow Chemicals are the four bidders for the IPCL's stake.

Post divestment, the agreement will be a single reference point for all the major management decisions. Hence, the views of the four bidders have been taken into account while formulating the agreement, the sources said.

The bidders have made certain recommendations to the merchant banker to be incorporated in the agreement after doing due-diligence at the company in October, they added.

If the cabinet approves the shareholding agreement, the bidding process can be kicked off next week itself enabling the completion of the entire deal by February next year. IPCL is among the five public sector firms identified for strategic sale and transfer of management control to a private investor.

After the strategic sale, the Government's stake in IPCL will come down to 34 per cent from the current 54 per cent. The holdings will come down further when a convertible bond issue-made in 1997-is redeemed in 2002. If the bondholders opt for conversion, the Centre's stake will drop to 26 per cent.

Meanwhile, Warburg Dillon Read release on Monday said that the Government has made no decision with respect to the bidding process nor any reserve price has been set for the sale of its equity stake in IPCL.