Cochin Shipyard OFS: Institutional buyers put in bids worth over Rs 2,900 cr

New Delhi, Jul 7 (PTI) Institutional investors on Tuesday placed bids exceeding Rs 2,900 crore for the government’s stake sale in Cochin Shipyard, significantly over-subscribing the portion reserved for them.

Non-retail buyers put in bids for over 2.10 crore shares against around 59.66 lakh shares in the base offer size reserved for them, according to stock exchange data.

“Offer for Sale in Cochin Shipyard Ltd received an overwhelming response from the investors and was oversubscribed 3.52 times on day one. The government has decided to exercise the entire green shoe option,” Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Secretary Arunish Chawla tweeted.

Retail investors can bid for the OFS on July 8.

At the indicative price of Rs

1,414.97, the bids are worth about Rs 2,900 crore.

Through the two-day Offer-for-Sale (OFS), the government is selling over 1.32 crore shares, or up to a 5.04 per cent stake in shipbuilding company CSL, which includes a base offer of 2.52 per cent of equity and an additional 2.52 per cent as the green-shoe option in case of oversubscription. The floor price was fixed at Rs 1,400/share.

The 5.04 per cent share sale at the set floor price is expected to fetch about Rs 1,800 crore for the exchequer.

The floor price was set at a discount of 7 per cent over Monday’s closing price of Rs 1,504.75.

On Tuesday, the CSL scrip closed 3.75 per cent lower at Rs 1,448.30.

The government currently holds a 67.91 per cent stake in CSL.

So far in the current fiscal, the government has sold stake via OFS in six public sector entities — Central Bank of India, Coal India, NHPC, NLC India, GIC and IRFC — garnering a cumulative Rs 18,561 crore.

For the full fiscal year, the government has budgeted to raise Rs 80,000 crore via PSU disinvestment and asset monetisation. PTI JD BAL BAL