Govt to sell 5% stake in PFC on Monday

The government will divest five per cent of its stake in Power Finance Corporation (PFC) on Monday, which might fetch Rs 1,700 crore at current market price. At present, the government holds 72.80 per cent equity in PFC. After sale of 66 million shares representing, five per cent stake on offer, it's holding will be reduced to 67.80 per cent.

"Power Finance Corporation has submitted to BSE a copy of Notice of Offer for Sale up to 66 million equity shares of the face value of Rs 10 each representing five per cent of the total paid up equity share capital by promoter through a sale on the separate window provided by BSE and NSE," a BSE filing said.

According to the statement, the offer for sale will commence at 0915 hrs and closes at 1530 hrs on July 27. The government in this financial year has been able to sell stake in only one public sector unit (PSU), REC. The department of disinvestment has a Rs 69,500-crore target from PSU disinvestment in the current financial year, of which Rs 41,000 crore would come from minority stake sale and Rs 28,500 crore from strategic stake sale. As per the government's disinvestment plan, the DoD would sell minority stake in PSUs through an offer for sale in which 20 per cent of the issue size is reserved for retail investors and 25 per cent for mutual funds and domestic insurance companies. The remaining portion is left for institutional investors, which are usually lapped up mostly by domestic financial institutions and foreign funds.