Nalco stake sale fully subscribed, retail buyers outbid

New Delhi: The government's first PSU stake sale in the current fiscal -- Nalco -- got off to a solid start, with retail investors putting in bids for 1.81 times the shares on offer.

Over 1.93 crore shares were offered to retail buyers on Thursday. The issue got subscribed 1.81 times till 1445 hours. Bidding will continue till the close of market.

The offer for sale (OFS) opened to institutional investors yesterday, wherein foreign fund houses and domestic institutions bid for 1.84 times the shares on offer.

The share sale got bids for Rs 954 crore and the government will retain full over-subscription under the greenshoe option.

The greenshoe option is a special provision which allows sale of more shares than originally planned by the issuer.

Of its total holding of 74.58 percent in Nalco, the government is offloading 5 percent, or over 9.66 crore, shares at a floor price of Rs 67, which was estimated to yield about Rs 640 crore.

Over 1.93 crore shares have been reserved for retail investors, who will also be offered 5 percent discount over the issue price. Retail investors are defined as individuals who place bids for sales of total value of not more than Rs 2 lakh in aggregate.

The stock was trading at Rs 68.45, up 1.03 percent over its previous close, on the BSE.

National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) is the first disinvestment of the current fiscal, which started on April 1.

For this fiscal, the government has set a target of Rs 46,500 crore through minority stake sale and Rs 15,000 crore from strategic disinvestment.

In 2016-17, the government had raised over Rs 46,247 crore from disinvestment.