Govt gets Rs 5K cr from NTPC OFS; retail investors disappoint

Government today raised about Rs 5,030 crore from sale of its 5 per cent stake in NTPC, with insurance companies getting almost two-third shares but retail participation was lukewarm amid a free-fall of stock markets.
The public issue of 41.22 crore equity shares was mostly lapped up by FIIs, insurance companies, mutual funds and HNIs, all of which came on the first day of the offer of sale (OFS) yesterday.
While institutional investors bid for nearly twice the number of shares offered to them, the 700 point drop in benchmark Sensex over two days seemed to have taken its toll on retailers who put in bids for less than half of their quota.

The excess bids of institutional bidding was used to make good the shortfall in retailer flow, giving the government about Rs 5,030 crore from the share sale, the sixth this fiscal.
Disinvestment Secretary Neeraj K Gupta said the retail portion too would have been over-subscribed had the broader markets been stable.
About 63 per cent of the shares sold were allocated to insurance companies, led by state-run LIC. Retail investors, who were reserved 20 per cent of the issue size, got 8.5 per cent of the shares.

FIIs were allocated 18 per cent or about one-fifth of the shares sold and mutual funds got 8.5 per cent. High Networth Individuals (HNIs) managed 2 per cent of the shares allocated.

"FIIs have been very aggressive in their bidding, both in terms of price and quantity," Gupta told PTI here.
Government had offered 41.22 crore shares in NTPC through the two-day Offer for Sale (OFS) route at a floor price of Rs 122 apiece. NTPC scrip fell below the floor or minimum price today to close at Rs 118.70 on the BSE.
"Despite 700 points plunge, investor interest was alive with retail investors coming in at an effective price of Rs 116," Gupta said.
Retail investors today bid for only about 3.63 crore shares out of 8.24 crore reserved for them. Yesterday, institutional investors had bid 1.8 times the offer size of 32.98 crore shares.

Retail investors were also given a 5 per cent discount to the floor price.
"Cut off price with respect to non retail category of NTPC has been fixed at Rs 122.05," stock exchange data said.
Following broader market trends, the NTPC scrip dipped 4.20 per cent over previous close to Rs 118.70 on the BSE. The BSE Sensex too lost 321 points or 1.37 per cent to close at 23,088. Yesterday, the Sensex had plunged 379 points.