Hindustan Copper OFS over-subscribed; institutions bid for Rs 700 cr shares

The government's up to 10 per cent stake sale in Hindustan Copper got off to a good start on Thursday with institutional investors putting in bids of over Rs 700 crore.

As against the over 4.35 crore shares on offer, institutional investors put in bids for more than 6.14 crore shares, or 1.41 times the offer size, as per data on the NSE.

At the indicative price of Rs 116.12 a share, the bids are valued at over Rs 710 crore.

The government is selling 10 per cent stake in Hindustan Copper, which includes green-shoe option of 5 per cent. The floor price was been set at Rs 116 a share.

If fully subscribed, the sale of 10 per cent stake or over 9.66 crore shares would fetch around Rs 1,100 crore. The share sale would open for retail investors on Friday.

The government currently holds 72.76 per cent stake in the company, under the administrative control of the Mines Ministry.

Shares of Hindustan Copper closed at Rs 117.05, down 5.98 per cent over the previous close on the BSE.

This is the third offer for sale (OFS) launched by the government in the current fiscal.

So far this fiscal, the government has raised Rs 8,368 crore through NMDC and HUDCO OFS and sale of SUUTI stake in Axis Bank.

The disinvestment target for the current financial year is Rs 1.75 lakh crore.