The board of state-owned Oil India Ltd (OIL) has approved the acquisition of a 5 per cent stake in Indian Oil Corportion (IOC) from the government at a discount to the market price.
The OIL board, at its meeting on monday, approved the proposal to buy IOC shares in an off-market trade, sources privy to the development said.
The board of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), which is to buy an equal number of shares in IOC, is yet to meet on the issue.
The government had offered a 10 per cent shareholding in IOC to ONGC and OIL at a discount of about 10 per cent to the current trading price.
IOC shares closed at Rs 247.45 on the BSE, up Rs 3.45 from yesterday, valuing the company at Rs 60,079 crore.
At a 10 per cent discount to the current price, the government’s sale of 24.27 crore shares (or a 10 per cent stake) in IOC would fetch about Rs 5,400 crore.
Sources said the final price would be decided by the Empowered Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
