Foreign roadshows begin for NTPC, BEL divestment

The Indian government on Tuesday commenced roadshows at four foreign locations, including in the US and Britain, to attract buyers for its proposed divestment in power generator NTPC and Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL).

The two stake sales are expected to garner the government around Rs.6,600 crore.

A senior source told IANS here that officials from the department of disinvestment (DoD), the power ministry and NTPC are doing roadshows simultaneously between October 5-10 in Singapore, Hong Kong, London and in San Francisco, Boston and New York in the US.

The divestment in the two companies would proceed based on investor responses in the roadshows and the domestic equity market conditions, the source added.

Union cabinet's approval has been taken for the 5 percent stake sale in NTPC. The 5 percent stake sale as per current market prices would fetch Rs.5,200 crore for NTPC stock and around Rs.1,400 crore in the case of BEL.

NTPC and BEL form part of a divestment basket of companies created by DoD earlier this year, which includes Engineers India, NALCO and Hindustan Copper.

The government has so far in this fiscal earned Rs.12,600 crore through stake sale in four units - Indian Oil, the Power Finance Corp, REC and the Dredging Corporation of India.

It has a divestment target, for this fiscal, of Rs.69,500 crore, of which Rs.28,500 crore is expected to come from strategic stake sales.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley last week reviewed the situation in the government's divestment programme in connection with generating revenue, and announcements of stake sale would be made at the appropriate time, a senior official said on Monday.

"On disinvestment, the finance minister held a review meeting last week," Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das told reporters here at a press conference of secretaries in the finance ministry.