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Govt to divest 7.64% stake in NFL tomorrow

Price for the OFS will be made public after the close of market hours today

Press Trust of India New Delhi
Last Updated : Jul 30 2013 | 2:19 PM IST
A panel of ministers today approved the proposal to disinvest government's 7.64% stake in National Fertilisers Ltd (NFL) and the issue will hit the markets tomorrow.

"The EGoM has cleared NFL offer for sale (OFS). The issue will hit the markets tomorrow," Disinvestment Secretary Ravi Mathur told reporters here.

He said the base price for the OFS would be made public after the close of market hours today. Sources said the price would be at a discount to the current market price.

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The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on disinvestment is headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

The share sale is expected to fetch around Rs 100 crore to the exchequer at current market price. Shares of NFL were trading at Rs 27.25, down 8.40% over previous close on BSE.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had last month cleared the 7.64%, or 3.74 crore share proposal.

Government holds 97.64% stake in the company and the disinvestment is being done to make it compliant with Sebi norms.

As per Sebi norms, a public sector listed company should have 10% public float by August 8, 2013.

The paid-up equity capital of the company, as on March 31, 2012, was Rs 490.58 crore.

The government uses the OFS route, popularly known as auction method, to divest its stake in PSUs that come under top 100 companies in terms of market capitalisation.

The government proposes to raise Rs 40,000 crore by way of disinvestment in the current fiscal. So far in the current fiscal it has raised over Rs 800 crore.

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First Published: Jul 30 2013 | 1:34 PM IST

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