Govt to sell up to 5.36% stake in RVNL via OFS route, expects Rs 1,329.9 cr

The government has decided to divest 5.36 per cent stake in Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) via an offer for sale that is expected to fetch Rs 1,329.90 crore.

"Offer for Sale in RVNL opens tomorrow for non-retail investors. Retail investors can bid on Friday. Government will divest 5.36 equity including a Green Shoe option of 1.96 per cent," Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said in a tweet on Wednesday.

The proposed Offer for Sale (OFS) comprises a base offer size of up to 70,890,683 equity shares of RVNL, representing 3.40 per cent with an option to additionally sell 40,866,394 equity shares, representing 1.96 per cent of the total issued and paid-up equity share capital, the company said in a regulatory filing.

In all, 11.17 crore shares will be offered, which would garner Rs 1,329.90 crore at the floor price fixed at Rs 119 per share.

Shares of RVNL closed at Rs 134.35, up 3.87 per cent on the BSE.

The offer is being undertaken by the government to achieve a minimum public shareholding in the company.

Capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India stipulates entities who have listed their equity shares on the stock exchange to maintain a minimum public shareholding of 25 per cent.

The government had in 2021 diluted 15 per cent stake in RVNL through OFS.

RVNL was incorporated in January 2003 as a 100 per cent owned public sector unit of the Ministry of Railways with the objective of raising extra-budgetary resources and implementation of projects relating to the creation and augmentation of capacity of rail infrastructure on a fast-track basis.