Disinvestment of HCL,NALCO,MMTC,Hindustan Copper,NMDC

Posted on September 23, 2012 by sagarmedia

Department of Disinvestment (DoD) will soon invite bids from merchant bankers for selling 9.59 percent government stake in Hindustan Copper (HCL), which could add over Rs 2,000 crore to the exchequer.”An inter-ministerial panel headed by DoD Secretary Mohammad Haleem Khan met to decide on the disinvestment in the company last week. The DoD will soon invite bids from merchant bankers in this regard,” an official said. The stake sale would be through the offer-for-sale or aution route, the official added.
The role of merchant bankers would be to assist and advise the government on modalities of follow-on public offer, he added.
At the current market price, the government would be able to raise over Rs 2,000 crore from the stake sale. Shares of HCL closed above Rs 267 per share on the BSE on Friday.
Further, post disinvestment government stake in HCL would come down to 90 percent, from 99.59 percent at present. The company’s paid up capital stands at Rs 463 crore.
On 14th September, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the minority stake sale in four PSUs — NALCO, MMTC, Hindustan Copper, NMDC — which is likely to fetch around Rs 15,000 crore to the exchequer.Last month, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had asked officials to expedite the process of disinvestment so that state-owned companies could hit stock markets in time and help government achieve the target of Rs 30,000 crore in 2012-13.
Although five months have passed in the current fiscal, the government so far has not been able to come out with a public issue.
Due to uncertain market conditions, the government in the 2011-12 could raise only Rs 14,000 crore from disinvestment against the target of Rs 40,000 croreDepartment of Disinvestment (DoD) favours e-auction route for outright sale of ailing PSUs, like Tyre Corporation, as it would help the government fetch better price.
The e-auction route, sources said, is better than the paper-based tender method as the buyer has the option of revising his bid during the auction process.The DoD has been planning outright sale of Tyre Corporation of India (TCIL) and has already invited expression of interest from entities willing to buy the company.
Under the e-auction route, the buyers would be required to submit their bids over the floor price to be fixed by the government. As the buyer has the option to revise its bids, the government can hope to get the best price for outright sale of the PSUs.
While under the existing tender based method, there is no floor price and also there is no possibility of revision of bids by buyers.Also, sources said, the e-auction method is transparent and gives the bidder an idea of fair market value of the PSU on the block.
Although the government plans to raise Rs 30,000 crore through disinvestment during the current financial year, no PSU has been able to access the capital market in the first five months of the fiscal.The Department of Heavy Industry in July 2011 had prepared a proposal for a complete sell-out of TCIL, as it has been reporting losses for the last several years.The outright sale of TCIL would help the government in inching towards meeting the disinvestment target set for the current fiscal.