In its last disinvestment exercise for the current fiscal, which seemingly received lukewarm response earlier in the day, the government on Friday finally managed to mop up about Rs.1,500 crore by offloading 5.82 per cent of its stake in SAIL through the OFS (offer for sale) route.
In a truncated divestment — as compared to the 10.82 per cent stake sell-off approved earlier — in view of the negative sentiments prevailing on the bourses, SAIL’s share offer barely got fully subscribed. As per the BSE data, the steel major’s OFS received bids for 24.13 crore shares as against 24.03 crore shares on offer.
“We are expecting around Rs.1,500 crore,” Disinvestment Secretary Ravi Mathur told reporters here. Incidentally, the SAIL counter on BSE ended trading on Friday at Rs.63.40, down 0.78 per cent.