Institutions, HNIs pour Rs 2,700 cr into NBCC share sale

Strong demand from HNIs and institutional buyers saw bids worth Rs 2,700 crore coming in on the first day of government's 15 per cent stake sale in construction company NBCC.
The share sale attracted bids for over 11.08 crore shares as against 7.20 crore offered to institutional investors, garnering a subscription of 1.54 times, according to the stock exchange data.
Most of the bids came at Rs 246.73 per share, slightly higher than the floor or minimum bid price of Rs 246.50. At this price, subscription of over 11.08 crore shares totalled over Rs 2,700 crore.
As many as 9 crore shares are being sold over two days. The offer for sale (OFS) will open tomorrow for retail subscribers with 1.80 crore shares on table.

Disinvestment Secretary Neeraj Gupta said today's share sale received widespread participation from High Networth Individuals (HNIs), MFs, banks, insurance firms and FIIs.
According to sources, the buying indicated that market sentiment is strong and the retail investor portion is expected to get fully bid for tomorrow.

Retail investors are being given 5 per cent discount to the share allotment price. Any unsubscribed portion of the retail category will be allocated to the un-allotted bids of institutional buyers who have chosen to carry forward their bids tomorrow.
Shares of NBCC closed at Rs 251.15, down 0.73 per cent over previous close on BSE.

Government holds 90 per cent in the company, which has a market capitalisation of Rs 15,180 crore. The sale will help the company meet Sebi norms that mandated PSUs to have a minimum public holding of 25 per cent.
Further, the offer would also open for subscription by NBCC employees after 12 weeks of completion of the OFS.
The stake sale is part of the government's Rs 56,600 crore disinvestment programme for the current fiscal. So far this fiscal, the government has raised Rs 6,414 crore through OFS and buyback of equity.
NBCC is the third disinvestment through the OFS route by the government in the current fiscal. It had sold 7 per cent stake in Hindustan Copper to raise Rs 400 crore in September and 11.36 per cent in NHPC in April to garner Rs 2,716 crore.

The Cabinet had in July this year cleared disinvestment in the project management consultancy and real estate development company.
NBCC was listed on the bourses in 2012 when government diluted 10 per cent stake to raise Rs 127 crore.