The Central Government on Wednesday succeeded in mopping up Rs.260 crore from the second tranche of 4.01 per cent stake sale of Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL) through the OFS (offer for sale) route.
Total demand
As against a total number of 3,71,19,152 shares of HCL on offer at a base price of Rs.70, a total demand of 4,38,09,524 shares was received on the two bourses — the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) — above the floor price. “The issue was subscribed 1.18 times. The approximate gross receipts on allotment would be Rs.260 crore,” a Finance Ministry statement said here. With this, the disinvestment of 9.59 per cent of the Centre’s equity stake in HCL approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) in September last year stands completed to meet the 10 per cent minimum public holding norm stipulated by market regulator SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) for listing of state-owned undertakings on the bourses.
In the first tranche, the government had divested 5.58 per cent of the paid-up equity capital of HCL through OFS at an average price of Rs.156.56 per share to garner Rs.808 crore. For the second tranche disinvestment, the floor price fixed on Tuesday at Rs.70 marked a discount of 3.65 per cent over the closing price of Rs.72.65 per share on the previous day.
Soon after commencement of the OFS through the stock exchange mechanism, the HCL counter lost further with the scrip trading at Rs.70.55 on the BSE and at Rs.70.50 on the NSE. The scrip ended the day’s trading at Rs.70.40 and Rs.70.30 on the BSE and the NSE, respectively.
