Coal India stocks dip after stake sale announced

Mumbai, Jan 29:

Stocks of state-run Coal India dipped Thursday, a day after the government decided to sell up to 10 percent equity stake in the company.

 At the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the company’s scrip was down 3.09 percent (at 2.00 p.m.) at Rs.372.20 per equity share from its previous close of Rs.384.05 points.

The company’s scrip plunged by 5.06 percent to an intra-day low of Rs.364.60 per equity share.

On Wednesday, the government said it would sell up to 10 percent equity stake in the state-owned company. A maximum of 631,636,440 shares of the company are planned to be off-loaded through the Offer-For-Sale (OFS) route.

The sale is scheduled to begin Jan 30. The floor price will be decided by the government Thursday. It is expected that the stock sale will fetch Rs.24,000 crore.

The initial number of shares available for trading will be 315,818,220, each priced at Rs.10. Additional shares of the same number and pricing will be put on OFS thereafter.

The company has submitted a filing with the National Stock Exchange (NSE) announcing the offer for sale.

At present, the central government holds 89.65 percent stake in the company. Besides, 20 percent of the OFS has been reserved for retail investors. IANS