Govt to divest 7.64% stake in NFL today, floor price at Rs 27/share

New Delhi: Government will sell 3.74 crore shares in National Fertilisers Ltd (NFL) through an offer for sale on Wednesday to garner Rs 101 crore to the exchequer.

The base price for the OFS has been fixed at Rs 27 apiece, which is 1.12 percent higher than the current market price of Rs 26.70.

The share sale is expected to fetch Rs 101 crore to the exchequer at the base price of Rs 27. Shares of NFL lost 10.25 percent in on Tuesday's trade to close at Rs 26.70 on the BSE.

"The EGoM has cleared NFL offer for sale (OFS). The issue will hit the markets Wednesday," Disinvestment Secretary Ravi Mathur said after the meeting of the EGoM.

The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on disinvestment is headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

"The floor price for the sale in terms of SEBI OFS Circulars shall be Rs 27 per equity share," NFL said in a filing to the BSE.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had last month cleared the 7.64 percent, or 3.74 crore share proposal.

Government holds 97.64 percent stake in the company and disinvestment is being done to make it compliant with Sebi norms.

As per Sebi norms, a public sector listed company should have a minimum of 10 percent public float by August 8, 2013.

IDBI Capital Markets is acting as merchant banker for the share sale.

The paid-up equity capital of the company, as on March 31, 2012, was Rs 490.58 crore.

The government uses the OFS route, popularly known as auction method, to divest its stake in PSUs that come under top 100 companies in terms of market capitalisation.

The government proposes to raise Rs 40,000 crore by way of disinvestment in the current fiscal. So far in the current fiscal, it has raised over Rs 800 crore.

PTI