BEL stake sale begins today; floor price Rs 1,498

The government will begin on Wednesday five per cent stake sale in state-owned aerospace and defence company Bharat Electronics Ltd to raise about Rs 1,600 crore.
 
The sale of 11.1 million shares will be at a minimum price of Rs 1,498 apiece, four per cent discount to today's closing price of BEL on BSE.
 
The share sale will be through an offer for sale (OFS) spread over two days - first day for institutional investors and the second day, on Thursday, for retail investors, a top official said.
 

The government currently holds 74.41 per cent stake in BEL, which has a market cap of Rs 34,843.5 crore.

 
This will be the second government OFS in 2017, the last being the sale of its 10 per cent in Manganese Ore (India) Ltd (MOIL) raising Rs 480 crore.
 
The government had sold 10 per cent in MOIL in January for Rs 480 crore, 15 per cent in NBCC to mobilise Rs 2,200 crore in October, 2016, 7 per cent in Hindustan Copper to raise Rs 400 crore in September and 11.36 per cent in NHPC to garner Rs 2,716 crore in April.