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The government's 4.01% stake sale in Hindustan Copper today received bids for 69% of the offer size after over three hours of trading on the stock exchanges.
The issue received bids for over 2.56 crore shares, or 69%, of the 3.71 crore shares on offer at 1225 hours, according to data from stock exchanges.
The indicative price was Rs 70 apiece, which was also the base price for the share sale.
At this price, if the issue is fully subscribed, it could fetch the exchequer Rs 260 crore.
Soon after the stake sale commenced on the bourses, Hindustan Copper scrip touched a low of Rs 70.55, 2.89% lower than previous close on the BSE.
After the close of market hours yesterday, a government panel had cleared the 4.01% stake sale in Hindustan Copper Ltd (HCL) at a base price of Rs 70 a share.
The base price was at a discount of 3.65% over the closing price of Rs 72.65 apiece.
On the National Stock Exchange, HCL scrip hit a low of Rs 70.50, down 2.56% over previous close.
Nearly nine lakh shares of HCL changed hands on both BSE and NSE in trade today.
The government holds 94.01% stake in HCL. The stake sale would make the company compliant with the minimum 10% public holding norm of market regulator Sebi.
The sale of 4.01% stake, or over 3.71 crore share, is being undertaken through offer for sale (OFS) route.
Axis Capital, ICICI Securities, Kotak Securities, SBICAP Securities and UBS Securities India are acting as brokers for the share sale.
The government had in November last year sold 5.58% stake in HCL through OFS route at an average price of Rs 156.56 apiece.
The stake sale fetched Rs 808 crore to the exchequer.
In September, 2012, the Cabinet had approved 9.5% stake sale in HCL. The government had then decided to go ahead with only one tranche of the issue to get a good price from the auction.
HCL is the second PSU to hit the market in the current fiscal. Last month, the government had raised Rs 568 crore through divesting 9.33% stake in MMTC.
The government plans to raise Rs 40,000 crore through disinvestment in 2013-14.
