RITES OFS opens on bourses; stock slumps 5 pc

The government's offer-for-sale (OFS) for selling up to 10 percent stake in railway PSU RITES opened on stock exchanges on Thursday. The floor price for the OFS has been fixed at Rs 298, which is a discount of 6 percent over Wednesday's closing price of Rs 318.05.

The government is selling a 5 percent stake in the company, with an option to retain oversubscription of another 5 percent, taking the total issue size to 10 percent. The share sale opened for institutional investors on Thursday, while retail buyers can put in their bids on Friday.

"For retail open on 28.02.20 with discount of Rs 8 over cut off-price," Secretary in the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) said in a tweet. The government currently holds a 77.39 percent stake in RITES and with this share sale the company would become compliant with Sebi's minimum public shareholding requirement.

Shares of RITES were trading at Rs 302.45, down 4.90 percent on BSE.