(ET)
The Centre is likely to divest 5% to 10% of Coal India’s equity through an offer for sale in an effort to comply with the norm requiring listed companies to have at least 25% public shareholding. The company management has started conducting road shows for large institutional investors in the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong for the stake sale.
A sale of 10% of CIL shares would fetch the Centre over Rs 16,000 crore at current prices. The share closed at Rs 261.50 on BSE on on Thursday. The Centre held 78.32% in CIL at end of June, while public shareholding was at 21.68%. “The norm requires CIL’s public holding to be at least 25% by August 21. We do not have enough time for taking any other route for divestment, hence it will have to be an offer for sale, which takes less time and is done on exchange-based bidding platform,” said a senior Coal India executive.
