ONGC's FPO likely to hit markets between June and July: ministry

The over Rs 11,000 crore follow- on public offer (FPO) of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is likely to hit markets between June and July this year, a top official said here today.

"The ONGC's Rs 11,000 crore FPO is likely to hit the markets between first and second quarter of this year say between June or July,", the Secretary in the Ministry of Oil and Petroleum Natural Gas S Sundareshan told reporters.

He was speaking on the sidelines of an event organised here to mark 50 years of celebrations of ONGC's Ahmedabad Asset in Gujarat.

The FPO was originally proposed to open around March 15 last year, but was rescheduled.

"The Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) of the FPO is now scheduled to be filed with the market regulator SEBI somewhere in May," an ONGC official said.

The Government will be selling close to 5% stake in ONGC, and post offer its stake holding would come down to 69.14% from the current 74.1%, he said.

"The sale of 427.77 million equity shares will fetch the government in excess of Rs 11,000 crore," the ONGC official said.

Six merchant bankers--Bank of America Corp, Nomura Holdings, HSBC Holdings Plc, JM Financial Services, Citigroup Inc and Morgan Stanley--have already been appointed to manage the FPO.