Govt sets ball rolling for stake sale in NBCC, HUDCO

The government today set the ball rolling for further selling of its stake in NBCC and HUDCO, in addition to an initial public offering (IPO) of the power sector company NEEPCO.

The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) in the finance ministry has invited separate bids from merchant bankers for the three issues, according to public notices.

The DIPAM has proposed to sell an additional 10 percent stake each in construction major NBCC and housing finance company HUDCO, according to the notices. The government currently holds 73.75 percent stake in NBCC and 89.81 percent in HUDCO.

The proposal is to dilute the stake through the Offer for Sale (OFS) route.

The 25 percent disinvestment in the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO), a 100 percent government-owned company, is proposed through the IPO route.

At current price, 10 percent stake sale in NBCC could fetch the government around Rs 1,300 crore and Rs 1,100 crore in case of HUDCO.

The DIPAM has invited separate bids from merchant bankers for the three disinvestments.

In 2017-18, disinvestment of 10.19 percent stake in HUDCO had yielded Rs 1,207.35 crore to the government.

In 2012-13 the government came out with an IPO of National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited (NBCC) and diluted 10 percent stake.

The government in October 2016 had sold 15 percent stake through an OFS in NBCC for about Rs 2,200 crore.

The government proposes to raise Rs 80,000 crore through disinvestment in the current fiscal.

So far it has raised Rs 9,219.91 crore by diluting its stake in Mishra Dhatu Nigam and RITES (both through IPO route) and Bharat 22 ETF (Exchange Trade Fund mechanism).

The government sold 25 percent stake in Mishra Dhatu Nigam and raised Rs 434.14 crore and Rs 460.51 crore from diluting 12.6 percent stake in RITES, a railways PSU.

The Bharat 22 ETF had fetched Rs 8,325.26 crore to the government.

In the last financial year, the government had crossed the Rs 1 lakh crore disinvestment target.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)