Giving a push to its ambitious disinvestment programme, the government today decided to sell its stake in four PSUs -- Hindustan Copper, Oil India, MMTC and Nalco -- which may fetch around Rs 15,000 crore. The government, however, did not take any decision with regard to stake sale in Neyveli Lignite and initial public offering (IPO) of RITES LTD, which were also on the agenda of the meeting of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA). The government has approved the proposal to sell 10 per cent stake in Oil India Ltd and another 9.59 per cent disinvestment in Hindustan Copper Ltd (HCL), an official statement said. Further, the CCEA also cleared the proposal of 12.15 per cent stake sale of Nalco and 9.33 per cent in MMTC through Offer for Sale (OFS) route. The government currently holds 78.43 per cent stake in Oil India. "After this disinvestment, the government's shareholding in the company would come down to 68.43 per cent," the statement added. The paid-up capital of the company as on March 2012 stood at Rs 601 crore. Further, post disinvestment government stake in HCL would come down to 90 per cent, from 99.59 per cent at present. The company's paid up capital stands at Rs 463 crore. As far as the stake sale in NALCO is concerned, it would bring down the government equity in the company to 75 per cent, from 87.15 per cent at present. The equity capital of the company stands at Rs 1,289 crore. As regards commodity trading firm MMTC, the stake sale would bring down government shareholding to 90 per cent, from 99.33 per cent. It's paid up capital stands at Rs 100 crore. However, the 5 per cent stake sale of Neyveli Lignite and another 10 per cent IPO of RITES was not taken up by the CCEA. In today's trade, shares of MMTC were down by 0.17 per cent at Rs 777.90, NALCO was up by 1.50 per cent at Rs 54.10. Oil India shares were up 0.94 per cent at Rs 486.35 and HCL closed at Rs 269.35, up 0.62 per cent on the BSE. Finance Minister P Chidambaram had last month asked officials to expedite the process of disinvestment so that state-owned companies could hit stock markets in time and help the government achieve the target of Rs 30,000 crore in the current fiscal. Although five months have passed in the current fiscal, the government so far has not been able to come out with a public issue. Raising adequate funds from disinvestment was necessary to keep in check the fiscal deficit which is facing pressure due to rising food, fuel and fertiliser subsidy bills. The government earlier deferred the initial public offer (IPO) of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) due to weak stock market conditions. The Rs 2,500-crore RINL issue was originally proposed to hit the markets in July. Due to uncertain market conditions, the government in the last fiscal could raise only Rs 14,000 crore from disinvestment against the target of Rs 40,000 crore. Stocks More on Hindustan Copper, Company INFO More on National Aluminium, India eyes $2.6 bln from stake sales in 4 state firms (Reuters) India's cabinet approved stake sales in four state companies on Friday, restarting a stalled divestment programme as part of a broader push to revive a reform agenda aimed at kick-starting economic growth and shoring up public finances. The cabinet approved the sale of 9.5 percent in Hindustan Copper Ltd, 12.15 percent in National Aluminium Co Ltd , 9.33 percent in trading firm MMTC Ltd and 10 percent in explorer Oil India Ltd, minister of trade and industry Anand Sharma told reporters. At current market prices, the stake sales would raise about $2.6 billion for the government. New Delhi aims to raise 300 billion rupees ($5.5 billion) through share sales in state-run companies in the current fiscal year that ends next March, but has thus far drawn a blank as weak market conditions have deterred public issues or auctions. The government has already approved a share sale in Steel Authority of India Ltd and an initial public offering in steelmaker Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd, which together were expected to fetch close to $1 billion, but the offers have not yet materialised. Market sentiment has picked up over the past couple of months, however. India's benchmark share index has rallied more than 19 percent so far in 2012, compared with a 12.6 percent gain in the MSCI Asia-Pacific index excluding Japan., with most of the gains since June. We are seeing a pronounced rally and this is quite nicely programmed, said Saurabh Mukherjea, head of equities at Ambit Capital. My sense is we would see the divestments go through, but they should hope to get through as much as they can between now and Christmas. Indian companies raised $7.1 billion from share offerings in the first half of this year, down 4 percent from the same period in 2011, according to Thomson Reuters data. ($1=54.3 rupees) Source: Indian Express
