Coal India 10 pct stake sale fully covered

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The government's sale of a 10 percent stake in Coal India Ltd , the largest coal producer in the world, was fully covered by mid-afternoon on Friday, helped by strong demand from portfolio investors, data from stock exchanges showed.

The sale, in which demand from funds exceeded supply, boosts the outlook for the country's $10 billion divestment programme, as the government prepares to put more shares on the block.

Investors, retail as well as institutional, bid for 662 million shares of Coal India as of 3.25 p.m. India time, versus the issue size of 631.6 million shares, Bombay Stock Exchange data showed.

 

Bidding for the shares ended at 3.30 p.m.

(Reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee and Himank Sharma; Editing by Clara Ferreira Marques)