Government sells 7% stake in NTPC to raise ₹9,100 cr

NEW DELHI: The government has received bids for 7% stake in India’s largest power producer NTPC, which will fetch the exchequer around ₹9,100 crore.

At the end of the two-day offer for sale (OFS), the government retained the over-subscription it had received from institutional investors after retail investors bid for only 73% of the quota allocated for them.

The government had planned to sell over 41.22 crore shares, or 5% holding, through the two-day OFS, with an option to retain a similar portion in case of oversubscription. On the opening day on Tuesday, institutional investors bid for 46.35 crore shares against 32.98 crore shares offered to them, according to stock exchange data.

Today, retail investors bid for 8.45 crore shares against 11.58 crore shares on offer.

Officials said the government decided to retain the over-subscription, and after adjustments a total of 7% stake was sold in the OFS, garnering ₹9,100 crore.

The shares were offered at a floor price of ₹168 apiece.

Shares of NTPC closed marginally lower at ₹168 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Wednesday.

So far in this fiscal, the government has raised over ₹8,800 crore through disinvestment in six companies, including selling stake in L&T through Specified Undertaking of Unit Trust of India (SUUTI), and one share buyback. This is against the targetted ₹72,500 crore to be raised in 2017-18 through stake sale in PSUs. The total sum includes ₹46,500 crore from minority stake sale, ₹15,000 crore from strategic disinvestment and ₹11,000 crore from listing of PSU insurance companies.