NTPC stake sale: Institutional buyers put in Rs 7000-crore bids

New Delhi: The government's 5 percent stake sale in India's largest power producer NTPC got off to a blockbuster start Tuesday with FIIs and institutional buyers alone putting in bids for as much as Rs 7,287 crore, against the total issue size of Rs 5,030 crore.

On the first day of the two-day offer for sale (OFS), institutional buyers, who were offered over 32.98 crore out of more than 41.22 crore shares, bid above the floor price of Rs 122 apiece.

Retail investors will get to bid for their quota of over 8.24 crore shares on the final day tomorrow.

The total bids that poured in aggregated to Rs 7,287 crore, with 59.62 crore shares, 1.8 times the offer size, being subscribed. The indicative price was Rs 122.22 and the highest bid came in at Rs 130 apiece.

Disinvestment Secretary Neeraj K Gupta said participation from foreign investors in NTPC share sale today was encouraging and hoped that retail portion too would be lapped up.

"There was encouraging response from all segments of institutional investors and FIIs. There are large number of insurance companies, including public and private, which have participated in the share sale," Gupta said.

According to sources, state insurance company LIC, which has rescued many stake sales, including the recent IOC disinvestment, this time around bid for shares aggregating to less than Rs 3,000 crore.

Of the total Rs 7,287 crore subscription that has come in, Rs 5,325 crore came in from insurance companies and Rs 925 crore from FIIs.

Besides, Rs 498 crore was subscription amount from banks, Rs 436 crore from mutual funds and Rs 102 crore from HNIs and others.

The government is selling over 41.22 crore shares or 5 percent stake in NTPC at a floor price of Rs 122 apiece.

If fully subscribed, the stake sale would fetch Rs 5,030 crore to the exchequer. Of this, institutional investors have already subscribed to Rs 4,000 crore worth shares on offer, and another Rs 1,030 crore is expected to come from retail buyers tomorrow.

Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das tweeted: "Response to NTPC stake sale encouraging. Reinforcement of market confidence on Indian economy."

In the secondary market, the scrip closed lower at Rs 123.90, down 2.33 percent over the previous close.

NTPC share sale, the sixth disinvestment of current fiscal, is the first under Sebi's revised OFS rules that allow the bidding for shares spread over two days. Bidding would continue between 0915-1530 hours tomorrow.