MOIL share sale: Institutional buyers put in Rs 580-crore bids

New Delhi: Strong demand from institutional buyers saw bids worth over Rs 580 crore coming in on the first day of government's 10 percent stake sale in manganese miner MOIL.

The share sale attracted bids for over 1.60 crore shares as against 1.06 crore shares offered to institutional investors, garnering a subscription of 1.51 times, according to the stock exchange data.

Most of the bids came at Rs 365.26 per share, slightly higher than the floor or minimum bid price of Rs 365. At this price, subscription of over 1.06 crore shares totalled over Rs 580 crore.

As many as 1.33 crore shares are being sold over two days. The offer for sale (OFS) will open tomorrow for retail subscribers with 27 lakh shares on table.

Retail investors are being given 5 percent discount to the share allotment price. Any unsubscribed portion of the retail category will be allocated to the un-allotted bids of institutional buyers who have chosen to carry forward their bids tomorrow.

In all, the government is selling 1.33 crore shares through the OFS route at a floor price of Rs 365. The share sale would fetch Rs 480 crore to the exchequer.

Shares of MOIL closed at Rs 368.25, down 3.78 percent over previous close on BSE.

The government currently holds 75.58 percent in MOIL, formerly known as Manganese Ore India Ltd. Earlier this fiscal, the government had raised about Rs 794 crore through share buyback of MOIL.

MOIL is the fourth disinvestment through the OFS route by the government in the current fiscal. It had sold 15 percent in NBCC to garner Rs 2,200 crore in October, 7 percent stake in Hindustan Copper to raise Rs 400 crore in September and 11.36 percent in NHPC in April to garner Rs 2,716 crore.

The government has so far raised about Rs 30,000 crore through minority share sale by way of OFS, share buyback and CPSE ETF so far in the current fiscal.

Last week, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) launched the second tranche of CPSE Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), which was over-subscribed 2 times. The sale fetched Rs 6,000 crore to the exchequer.