NEW DELHI: The government's initial lot of 5 per cent stake in Coal India today got subscribed much before the close of market hours fetching the government at least Rs 11,300 crore even as bidding for the remaining lot continues on the bourses.
The total issue of 63.16 crore shares got bids for 33.77 crore shares by 1435 hours, representing 53.47 per cent of the shares on offer, as per BSE data.
The bidding for the public offer will continue till 1530 hours.
The government is selling 31.58 crore shares, or five per cent stake, through a public offer, with an option to sell another 5 per cent. The retail category of 12.63 crore shares got bids for over 3.50 crore shares (27.71 per cent) while the general category of over 50.53 crore shares was subscribed nearly 60 per cent.
At the floor price of Rs 358 apiece the public offering, if fully subscribed, would fetch Rs 22,600 crore to the exchequer.
Coal India is the second PSU to hit the market under the government's disinvestment programme in the current fiscal, the first being SAIL in which shares worth about Rs 1,700 crore were sold.
As much as 20 per cent of the offered shares have been reserved for retail investors, who can buy stocks worth up to Rs 2 lakh in the share sale. A minimum of 25 per cent of the issue size would be reserved for mutual funds and insurance companies.
Also, a 5 per cent discount on the bid price would be given to retail investors.
While the retail investors bid at an indicative price of Rs 360.13, the same for general category investors was Rs 358.32 -- both above the floor price of Rs 358 apiece.
Shares of CIL were trading at Rs 361.80, down 3.56 per cent over previous close on the BSE.