The Government on Friday raked in over Rs620 crore through sale of its 6 per cent stake in aluminium producer Nalco, taking it closer to its disinvestment target for the fiscal.
Nalco share sale, whose size was pruned to 12.88 crore shares or 5 per cent plus an option to retain an equal number in case of over-subscription, managed to get bids for 15.69 crore or 6 per cent of government shareholding.
The government, which priced the issue at a discounted price of Rs40 a share, decided to retain all of additional bids for over 2.81 crore shares that came in.
The auction, which started in the morning, had received bids for over 15.69 crore shares, against an offer of over 12.88 crore shares, according to stock exchanges' data.
indicative price, which is the weighted average price of all valid bids, was Rs40.05 a share. At this price, the government would garner over Rs 620 crore.
The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on disinvestment, headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, on Wednesday cleared stake sale of 25.77 crore shares, or up to 10 per cent, in Nalco through the Offer For Sale (OFS) route.
The government had structured the issue in this way as it was not very confident about the demand, sources said, adding that the disinvestment department was not very happy with the response to the offer.
Shares of Nalco closed at Rs40.35, down 8.81 per cent over previous close on the BSE. During the day trade, Nalco scrip fell to a low of Rs40.30.
Bids for over 4.08 crore shares were with 100 per cent margin, meaning if a bidder decides to withdraw later he can do so. Over 11.60 crore shares attracted bids with zero per cent margin, according to the NSE data.
The number of shares on offer is lower than what the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had approved for in September last year. The CCEA had cleared a 12.5 per cent stake sale in the Navratna PSU.