Centre to sell 1.5% stake in ONGC via OFS; may get Rs 3,000 crore

Offer includes green shoe option, opens Wednesday; retail investors can place their bids Thursday

The government will sell 1.5 per cent stake in Oil and Natural Gas Corporation through an offer for sale (OFS) on Wednesday, a move that’s expected to shore up the centre’s divestment receipts by over Rs 3,000 crore from the sale.

The offer for sale for 1.5 per cent equity stake sale in ONGC, including a greenshoe option, opens Wednesday, and retail investors can place their bids on Thursday, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said.

The government’s offer to sell 94.3 million shares or 0.75 per cent stake in the public sector oil and gas company would open for non-retail investors on Wednesday. The offer to sell an additional 94.3 million or 0.75 per cent would open for retail investors on Thursday. The floor price for the sale has been set at Rs 159, at about 7 per cent discount to the stock’s closing price of Rs 171 on Tuesday.

Equity shares representing 0.075 per cent equity in the company has been reserved for eligible employees of the PSU. ONGC employees can apply for equity shares worth up to Rs 5 lakh each

The sale would bring down the centre’s shareholding in ONGC to 58.91 per cent from 60.41 per cent presently.

Institutional or non-retail investors will get an option to carry forward their unallocated bids to the next day for allocation from the unsubscribed portion for retail investors. The issue will open for retail investors on March 31.

A minimum of 25 per cent of the shares are reserved for mutual funds and insurance companies while 10 per cent reserved for retail investors.

The sale could be the government’s last attempt to shore up divestment receipts for the fiscal year ending March 31. The centre will miss its revised divestment target of Rs 78,000 crore for FY22 as uncertainties due to the Russia-Ukraine war has postponed the initial public offering of Life Insurance Corporation of India. The centre has so far garnered Rs 12,424 crore in divestment receipts this year.