OIL stake sale: Govt gets Rs 3,112 cr

Paving the way for the mega stake sale in NTPC, investors lapped up shares of state owned Oil India Ltd sold through an auction on Friday. The 10 per stake sale in the country's second largest oil explorer was subscribed 2.56 times, with foreign institutional investors putting in hefty bids helping the government raise Rs 3,111.83 crore.

"It has done very well," said Ravi Mathur, secretary, department of disinvestment.

Data available with the National Stock Exchange revealed that against the offer for sale (OFS) of 6,01,13,157 shares, the company received 15,41,42,457 bids. The indicative price, or weighted average of all bids, was Rs 517.99 per share as against the floor price of Rs 510 a piece.

While FIIs bid for shares worth Rs 2,700 crore, Life Insurance Corporation also put in over Rs 1,000 crore.

The 9.5 per cent stake sale in NTPC, expected to raise Rs 13,000 crore, is likely to take place next week.

However, the OIL scrip fell by 3.33 per cent to close at Rs 522 on the NSE and dipped by 2.55 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange to end the day at Rs 525.55

"The decision on oil pricing had a favourable effect. Also recent changes in the OFS mechanism by Sebi helped attract more investors," said a senior finance ministry official.

To make the offer for sale process more transparent, market regulator Sebi last month had allowed disclosing the indicative price throughout the trading session.

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