Govt on course to raise Rs 2,200 crore from NBCC stake sale

New Delhi: Government on Friday looked set to raise about Rs 2,200 crore from sale of its 15 percent stake in NBCC after retail investors grabbed 82 percent of their allotted quota, with institutional investors making up for the small shortfall.

As many as 9 crore shares in the state-owned construction company were offered over two days at a floor price of Rs 246.50. Institutional investors had yesterday bid for 11.08 crore as against 7.2 crore reserved for them.

Retail investors, for whom bidding opened today, put in bids for 1.4 crore, or 81.8 percent of 1.8 crore shares reserved for them, according to stock exchange data.

As per the terms of the Offer for Sale, any unsubscribed portion of retail segment can be allocated to excess bids by institutional investors.

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.

In the secondary market, the stock of NBCC slipped near 4 percent to Rs 241.30.

The government holds 90 percent in the company. The sale will help the firm meet Sebi norms that mandated PSUs to have a minimum public holding of 25 percent.

Further, the offer will also be open to subscription by NBCC employees after 12 weeks of completion of the offer for sale (OFS).

The stake sale is part of the government's Rs 56,600-crore disinvestment programme for the current fiscal. So far this fiscal, the government has raised Rs 6,414 crore through OFS and buyback of equities.

NBCC is the third disinvestment through the OFS route by the government in the current fiscal. It had sold 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 Cabinet had in July this year cleared disinvestment in the project management consultancy and real estate development company.

NBCC was listed on the bourses in 2012 when the government diluted 10 percent stake to raise Rs 127 crore.