Bharat Dynamics slips 14% as government's stake sale via OFS begins

Shares of Bharat Dynamics slipped 14 per cent to Rs 333 on the BSE on Tuesday as the government's 15 per cent stake sale in the company via offer for sale (OFS) route opened for non-retail investors today. The floor price for the OFS has been fixed at Rs 330 per share, a 14 per cent discount to Monday’s closing price of Rs 385.

The government is planning to sell 15 per cent stake in the defence company today (September 8), and tomorrow. The Centre, through President of India, owns 87.75 per cent stake in the company and is looking to offload 27.1 million shares.

The President of India, acting through and represented by the Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence, Government of India, is the promoter of Bharat Dynamics.

“The Promoter proposes to sell up to 18.33 million equity shares of the Company on September 8, 2020, (for non-retail investors only) and on September 9, 2020 (for retail investors and for un-allotted non-retail Investors who choose to carry forward their bids) with an option to additionally sell 9.16 million equity shares (representing 5 per cent of the total issued and paid up equity share capital of the company),” Bharat Dynamics said in a exchange filing.

The stock of Bharat Dynamics has corrected nearly 31 per cent from its all-time high level of Rs 481, touched on August 14, 2020 on the BSE. It hit a 52-week low of Rs 147 in intra-day trade on March 24, 2020.

Last month, the government had sold 15 per cent stake in aerospace and defence company Hindustan Aeronautics to raise about Rs 5,000-crore.