Govt mops up Rs 9,100 cr through NTPC share sale

The government has raised Rs 9,000 crore through a share sale in power utility NTPC. The investor demand for the offer for sale (OFS) fell short as the centre had put on block a total of Rs 13,800 crore worth of shares.

The OFS saw a total of 548 million bids against 824 million shares on offer, which includes the green-shoe portion. The retail portion of the share sale saw only 73 per cent subscription on Wednesday. Shares of NTPC closed at Rs 168, also the floor price for the OFS. Retail investors were offered an additional five per cent discount.

The tepid retail demand was despite brokerages advising their clients to subscribe to the offering.

Angel Broking, in a note, said offering was attractive for long-term investors as it valued the company at 1.2 times its 2018-19 book value.

On Tuesday, the offering saw participation largely from state-owned institutional investors such as Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), while the participation of other institutions including foreign funds was low, said bankers.

The government currently owns 69.74 per cent stake in NTPC. Post the OFS, the shareholding of government would come down to 63.1 per cent.

Post the NTPC OFS, the total divestment proceeds for the current financial year would touch Rs 19,000 crore mark. The government has set itself a divestment target of Rs 72,500 crore for the fiscal. Bankers say the street will witness several divestment issues in the next few months including the initial public offering(IPO) of General Insurance Corporation (GIC Re) and New India Assurance.