The government has started the disinvestment of National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Ltd (NHPC) and hopes to mop up Rs 2,400 crore.
The government is looking to sell 11.36 per cent stake in NHPC and will be appointing merchant bankers to facilitate the divestment soon.
The Department of Disinvestment has asked for expression of interest from merchant bankers who have undertaken public offerings to help the government as well as act as book running lead managers. The government will sell 11.36% or over 120 crore shares of NHPC through Offer for Sale.
NHPC employees will get shares at a 5% discount over the issue price and up to 10 per cent of the OFS will be reserved for them. The government has 86.36 per cent stake in the hydropower company. NHPC got listed in 2009 and issued 10 per cent fresh equity after the promoter divested 5 per cent stake. The paid-up equity capital was Rs 12,300.74 crore as on March 31, 2012.
The government uses OFS or auction route to sell stake in PSUs that comprise the top 100 companies as per market capitalisation. Auction method has already been used for divestment of Oil India, NMDC, Hindustan Copper and NTPC in 2012-13. The government has fixed a target of `40,000 crore which is to be garnered from divestment in 2013-14 and has planned stake sale in a number of PSUs like CIL, IOC and Hindustan Aeronautics. In the last financial year, it raised Rs 23,920 crore through disinvestment.
