Press Trust of India
New Delhi, Nov 26: Government has shortlisted five Indian merchant bankers, including JM Financial, SBI Capital and ICICI Securities, for managing over Rs 21,000 crore stake sale in Coal India. Besides, Axis Capital and Kotak Mahindra Capital have also been selected for managing the stake sale of the ‘Maharatna’ PSU, sources said. This would be the first big PSU disinvestment to be managed by only Indian investment bankers. The Cabinet had last week approved 10 per cent stake sale in Coal India.
As many as seven merchant bankers had bid for managing the disinvestment of Coal India. Shares of Coal India Thursday closed at Rs 335.90, up 1.07 per cent on BSE. At the current market prices, sale of 63.16 crore shares, or 10 per cent stake, would bring in around Rs 21,200 crore. The government had last sold 10 per cent in the blue-chip on January 31, at the floor price of Rs 358 apiece and garnered Rs 22,557 crore. The government had earlier extended deadline for the appointment of merchant bankers for the share sale in Coal India after global investment banks flagged concerns over the company allegedly not meeting green commitments.
Government currently holds 79.65 per cent in Coal India. CIL was listed on November 4, 2010 and its market value stands at over Rs 2 lakh crore. The stake sale would help the government march towards the PSU stake sale target of Rs 41,000 crore in the current fiscal. So far the government has been able to raise Rs 12,600 crore through stake sale in four PSUs. Of the overall disinvestment target of Rs 69,500 crore, the government had budgeted to raise Rs 41,000 crore through minority stake sale in PSUs and another Rs 28,500 crore via strategic stake sale.
