NMDC base price fixed at Rs 147 per share, Rs 5,828 cr eyed

NMDC base price fixed at Rs 147 per share, Rs 5,828 cr eyed

New Delhi: The government on Tuesday fixed Rs 147 a share as the base price-- a 7.7 percent discount at market rate-- for sale of its 10 percent stake in miner NMDC, with the hope of garnering Rs 5,828 crore to the cash-pressed Exchequer.

"Government of India has now informed the Exchange that the floor price for the sale... Shall be Rs 147 per equity share of NMDC," the state-run firm said in an exchange filing on the eve of share sale programme

The one-day stake sale opens Wednesday on bourses.

If fully-sold, government will get up to Rs 5,828 crore from the sale of 39,64,71,600 shares in NMDC, the largest iron ore miner in the country, through offer for sale (OFS), the route followed in the Hindustan Copper share sale last month.

NMDC's shares settled at Rs 159.30 apiece, up 2.94 percent over the previous closing on BSE. In NSE, shares closed at Rs 159.05 apiece, up 2.78 percent. Sensex were down by 0.12 percent to close at 19,387.14.

The government, which has 90 percent holding in NMDC, plans to divest 39,64,71,600 shares. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had on October 25 approved the disinvestment.

The NMDC issue will be the second disinvestment in this fiscal in which the government has set Rs 30,000 crore fund- raising target through share sale of at least a dozen firms.

The NMDC share sale will take place on separate windows of the stock exchanges -- BSE and NSE. It will start tomorrow at 9.15 am and close on the same day at 3.30 pm.

Sources said government is confident of smooth-sailing of the offer due to strong fundamentals of the Hyderabad-based company.

Government had offered 41 percent discount to the investors in HCL issue through which it had generated Rs 808 crore. Despite that, state-run financial institutions had to chip in in the last moment to save the issue.

NMDC, which is sitting on a cash pile of over Rs 22,000 crore and commands around 41 percent share in the domestic iron ore market, is also a debt-free company.

In the last fiscal, NMDC had reported a net profit of Rs 7,265.39 crore and net sales of Rs 11,260.53 crore. However, in the June-September quarter, its net profit was down nearly 15 percent at Rs 1,678.62 crore largely due to fall in sales and lower production.