New Delhi, Jan 07: The public issue of Rs 14.2 crore shares of state exploration firm Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) will hit the market on March two. An Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) on disinvestment of 10 per cent government equity in ONGC today decided to open the bidding under the book building route on March two for seven working days. Deciding against splitting ONGC shares into smaller denominations, the IMG instead decided to reduce the lot of shares on offer from 100 to 10. "A smaller lot will enable small and retail investors to participate in the public offer," highly placed sources said. A draft prospectus for ONGC's public issue will be filed with Sebi before the month end and road shows for the issue will happen at London, Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai and a couple of places in US in the last week of February.

Simultaneous roadshows will also happen at big centres in India. Sources said the IMG finalised the timetable for the public issue keeping in mind the fact that the receivables from the issue should acrue to government during this fiscal itself. A consortium of Kotak Mahindra Capital Co, DSP Merrill Lynch and JM Morgan Stanley are the book runners for the ONGC issue.

Government had decided last month to sell 10 per cent equity in ONGC through a public offering in the domestic market to meet largely unrealised disinvestment target of Rs 13,200 crore for the current fiscal.

Bureau Report