Nalco share sale over-subscribed

Nalco public offer was fully subscribed before the close of market hours on Friday, guaranteeing at least Rs 515 crore to the government from the stake sale.

The auction, which started in the morning, had received bids for over 13.21 crore shares by 3.05 pm, against an offer of over 12.88 crore shares, according to stock exchanges’ data.

The indicative price, which is the weighted average price of all valid bids, was Rs 40.01 a share. At this price, the government would garner at least Rs 515 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).

The government is selling 5 per cent stake, with an option to retain another 5 per cent of the over-subscription.

The government had fixed the floor price for up to 10 per cent share auction of Nalco at Rs 40 apiece.

Shares of Nalco were quoting at Rs 40.40, down 8.70 per cent from its previous close on BSE. During the day trade, Nalco scrip fell to a low of Rs 40.30.

Bids for over 3.46 crore shares were with 100 per cent margin, meaning if a bidder decides to withdraw later he can do so. Over 9.56 crore shares attracted bids with zero per cent margin, according to the NSE data.

Final bids and the cut-off price is likely to be announced later in the day after stock exchanges compile all 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.

The Department of Disinvestment (DoD) eld road shows in Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, the U.S. and the U.K. last month for disinvestment of the state-run aluminium company.

At present, the government holds 87.15 per cent stake in Nalco.

The stake sale was deferred in November last year as the government wanted to wait for the company’s third quarter earnings to get a better valuation.

Nalco posted a more than two-fold jump in its October-December quarter net profit to Rs 118.94 crore, on the back of improved sales. The company had a profit of Rs 51.22 crore in the same period last fiscal.

Enam Securities, SBI Caps and IDFC are merchant bankers for the Nalco share sale offer.

The government estimates to collect Rs 24,000 crore from disinvestment in the current fiscal and has already raised over Rs 21,800 crore so far.