The government today invited bids from merchant bankers to help it offload 20 per cent stake in the Mini-ratna miner Manganese Ore India (MOIL) through an initial public offer.
"We have to appoint up to three merchant bankers, the bids for which have been invited. We would seek the Cabinet approval in the next two-three weeks," a senior finance ministry official told PTI here. He however, said divestment in MOIL could happen by the end of this year.
He further said the Centre will offload 10 per cent stake in MOIL while Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh would off-load 5 per cent each of their stakes. The Centre was earlier considering selling 10 per cent stake in the company.
The Centre holds 81.57 per cent in the Mini-ratna entity, while Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh hold 9.62 per cent and 8.81 per cent stake, respectively.
MOIL operates 10 mines, six located of which are in Nagpur and Bhandara districts of Maharashtra and four in Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh.
MOIL had a net profit of Rs 240 crore in 2009-10. The net worth of the company by the end of the last fiscal stood at Rs 1,587 crore.
The government aims to raise Rs 40,000 crore through disinvestment this fiscal. So far, divestment in the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam has fetched over Rs 1,000 crore.
The government is likely to sell its stake in 10 PSUs, including Coal India, MMTC, SAIL and Hindustan Copper, this fiscal. During the last fiscal, it had raised Rs 25,000 crore through stake sale in Oil India, NMDC, REC and NTPC.
