Govt fixes EIL issue price at Rs 290

The government today set the issue price of Engineers India's (EIL) follow-on public offer (FPO) at Rs 290 per share--the upper end of the price band.

"Issue price has been fixed at Rs 290 a share. A discount of 5 per cent will be given to retail bidders and to employees," officials sources told PTI this evening.

The public issue, which was oversubscribed 13 times, will fetch Rs 950 crore to the government. The offer was open between July 27 to July 30. The government is offering a discount of 5 per cent to retail investors-- an allotment price Rs 275.50 a share.

The state-run engineering consultancy had fixed the price range of its 3.36 crore shares of Rs 5 each at Rs 270-290 apiece.

The allotment will be done by August 6 and these shares will be listed by August 16, market sources said.

The Rs 977-crore FPO had received an overwhelming demand from all market participants, including retail investors, making it one of the best divestment offers by the government so far this fiscal. In the portion reserved for institutional buyers, the FPO was subscribed 23.43 times.

"The issue has received robust demand from all categories of investors and it shows investor confidence is resuming in the primary markets," ICICI Securities CEO & MD Madhabi Puri Buch had said. ICICI Securities was one of the lead-managers to the issue.

The government, which holds a little over 90 per cent in EIL, is selling 10 per cent stake through the FPO.

In the secondary market, EIL counter ended higher. On the NSE, it gained 1.68 per cent to Rs 329.

Incorporated in 1965, EIL is an engineering consultancy offering services in design and engineering services. It is focused on the oil and gas, and petrochemical industries in India and abroad. ICICI Securities, IDFC Capital, SBI Caps and HSBC Securities and Capital Markets India are the book-running lead managers to the issue.