SAIL board fails to arrive at FPO date

The board of Steel Authority of India (SAIL), which met today to decide on the follow-on public offer (FPO), failed to finalise the date of launch of the issue.

Emerging from the marathon meeting, SAIL Chairman CS Verma told reporters here that the board has approved the Red Herring Prospectus, but no decision was taken on the timing of the issue.

"The board has approved the FPO. The timing of the FPO will be decided on market condition," Verma said.

A SAIL official had recently said that the proposed FPO was likely to hit the capital markets by around June 14 and filing of the draft prospectus could happen by the end of this month.

Asked whether the June 14 date has been frozen, Verma said, "It is not frozen yet. We have to decide on the date. It will depend upon market condition. It should be in June, but we are yet to take a call."

The FPO of SAIL, in which government holds a little over 85% stake, has failed to meet repeated deadlines since December last year due to unfavourable market conditions and problems with merchant bankers.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex today fell below 18,000-mark for the first time in two months to 17,993 on concerns about inflation and high interest rates among others.