(ET)
Coal India’s employees have largely stayed away from buying shares reserved for them in the Centre’s offer for sale. Shares were under subscribed by more than 90%, though they were offered to employees at a discount.
Had the issue been fully subscribed, it would have fetched the government around Rs 251 crore. Instead, it is now likely to fetch close to Rs 25 crore only. Despite two recent rounds of stake sale — one for financial institutions and retail investors and another for employees — the Centre may not have succeeded in bringing down its holding below 75%.
It is unable to make CIL compliant with the minimum public holding norm for listed companies. It will now have to depend on the fourth tranche of CPSE ETFs (CPSE ETF FFO-3) that will hit the market Wednesday, in which Coal India shares would also be offloaded by the Centre along with 11 other central PSU shares.
