The Department of Disinvestment (DoD) will soon invite bids from merchant bankers for selling 9.59% government stake in Hindustan Copper (HCL), which could add over Rs 2,000 crore to the exchequer.
"An inter-ministerial panel headed by DoD Secretary Mohammad Haleem Khan met to decide on the disinvestment in the company last week. The DoD will soon invite bids from merchant bankers in this regard," an official told PTI.
The stake sale would be through the offer-for-sale or aution route, the official added.
The role of merchant bankers would be to assist and advise the government on modalities of follow-on public offer, he added.
At the current market price, the government would be able to raise over Rs 2,000 crore from the stake sale. Shares of HCL closed above Rs 267 per share on the BSE on Friday.
Further, post disinvestment government stake in HCL would come down to 90%, from 99.59% at present. The company's paid up capital stands at Rs 463 crore.
On September 14, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the minority stake sale in four PSUs -- NALCO, MMTC, Hindustan Copper, NMDC -- which is likely to fetch around Rs 15,000 crore to the exchequer.
Last month, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had asked officials to expedite the process of disinvestment so that state-owned companies could hit stock markets in time and help government achieve the target of Rs 30,000 crore in 2012-13.
Although five months have passed in the current fiscal, the government so far has not been able to come out with a public issue.
Due to uncertain market conditions, the government in the 2011-12 could raise only Rs 14,000 crore from disinvestment against the target of Rs 40,000 crore.
