Engineers India FPO snapped up 11.6 times on Day 3

The Rs 977-crore follow-on offer (FPO) of the state-run Engineers India (EIL) got an overwhelming response with the FPO getting oversubscribed a whopping 11.63 times on the third day of the issue today, lapped by institutional investors.

The offer, expected fetch up to Rs 977 crore to the government, received bids for over 39.18 crore shares against 3.36 crore equities on offer, thereby getting subscribed 11.63 times, as per the National Stock Exchange (NSE) data.

Today was the last day for institutional buyers to apply for the EIL public offer. The FPO, which opened on July 27, closes tomorrow for others (retail and HNIs).

The company is offering equity shares of Rs 5 each in the price band of Rs 270-290 apiece.

By the end of the third day, the FPO had been subscribed 23.43 times in the portion reserved for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs), as per the NSE data.

In the retail category, the pubic issue was subscribed 41 per cent and in the HNI portion 14 per cent,the NSE data show.

The government, which holds a little of over 90 per cent in EIL, is selling 10 per cent stake through the FPO.  The company is a leader in engineering consultancy and had an order book of Rs 6,236 crore as on March 31, 2010. It operates majorly in the hydrocarbon sector, offering end-to-end solutions in engineering and design.

In the secondary market too, EIL counter attracted buying and on the NSE, with the scrip settling 2.28 per cent higher at Rs 330.25.

ICICI Securities, IDFC Capital, SBI Caps and HSBC Securities and Capital Markets India are the book-running lead managers to the issue.