Govt to sell up to 10% of Coal India on Friday - Livemint

CIL shares gained 0.27% to close at Rs.384.05 on Wednesday on BSE while the benchmark Sensex lost 0.04% to close at 29,559.18 points. Photo: Indranil Bhoumik/Mint

Mumbai: Coal India Ltd (CIL), the state owned coal mining firm, will launch its offer for sale (OFS) programme to sell 10% stake in the company on 30 January, it said in a notification to the BSE on Wednesday.

CIL has offered to sell 31.58 crore equity shares of face value of Rs.10 each with an option to sell an additional 31.58 crore shares aggregating to 10% of the total paid up equity share capital of the company, said the firm in the notice. The sale shall take place on a separate window of the stock exchanges and shall commence at 9.15am and close on the same date at the closure of market hours.

“Tomorrow the government will make a decision on the pricing of the issuance. The bankers have given their recommendation on offering a discount but the decision will be taken tomorrow,” said a banker involved in the process on condition of anonymity, adding that roadshows for the issue were concluded a few weeks back.

CIL shares gained 0.27% to close at Rs.384.05 on Wednesday on BSE while the benchmark Sensex lost 0.04% to close at 29,559.18 points.

At Wednesday’s share price, a 10% stake sale in the company could fetch Rs.24,257.99 crore.

The Coal India share sale is expected to help restart the government’s disinvestment programme, which has seen limited success so far.

The centre has set a target of Rs. 58,425 crore for the current fiscal but has raised just over Rs.1,700 crore so far.

The centre has also appointed bankers for share sales in Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd (ONGC), where roadshows have been conducted, said two bankers involved in the ONGC share sale process on condition of anonymity.

“The roadshow for ONGC is on but the government has not decided whether it plans to offer any discount during the issuance,” said the first person mentioned above, adding that the investor response to ONGC has been muted amid falling oil prices.

“The government plans to raise over Rs.14,000 crore before the budget and they are launching which ever programs can be closed at the earliest,” the second banker quoted above added.