CIL issue oversubscribed 13.46 times till noon

Coal India's blockbuster offering has received an overwhelming response from investors and was oversubscribed 13.46 times, hours before it closes today.

The initial public offer (IPO) by the state-run navratna got total bids for 850.30 crore shares, valued worth Rs 2.08,323.5 lakh crore, as against 63.1 crore equities on the offer, data till 2:00 pm with the National Stock Exchange showed.

The Rs 15,000-crore mega issue that opened on October 18, closes today evening. Bidding by the qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) for the issue closed yesterday. Today is the last date for retail and non-institutional investors.

The shares on offer for Qualified Institutional Buyers were oversubscribed 24.70 times. The quota for QIBs is 28.4 crore shares.

"The response to Coal India IPO, from all the classes of investors, has surpassed even the most optimistic predictions. It has caught even the biggest optimists by surprise," SMC Global Securities Strategist Jagannadham Thunuguntla said.

The state-owned CIL issue is the country's biggest share sale so far, with the government looking at garnering up to Rs 15,400 crore by disinvesting 10 per cent stake in the world's largest coal producer.

The issue is priced in the range of Rs 225 to Rs 245 a share. The government is divesting 10 per cent of its stake in CIL, the world's largest coal producer.

At the upper end of the price range, Coal India's public issue is worth Rs 15,475 crore and at the lower end, it would fetch about Rs 14,211.81 crore.

The issue price will be decided by a Group of Ministers on October 24. The Navratna company is expected to list on the domestic bourses by November 4.