The Indian government will sell five percent of equity in state-run steelmaker Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) or 200 million equity shares held by it in the steel company through an offer for sale (OFS), a company statement said on Thursday, January 14.
Additionally, the government will also have the option to sell another five percent of equity held by it, which will entail that it will sell five percent equity in SAIL through an OFS with the ‘greenshoe’ option of another five percent, the statement said.
The floor price for the sale has been set at INR 64 ($0.87) per share, the statement said.
At least 12.5 percent of the total sales of shares will be reserved for allocation to retail investors. This apart, the government mentioned that no single bidder other than mutual funds registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) will be allocated over 25 percent of the offer of shares.
For non-retail investors, the offer for sale will open on Thursday, January 14, and for retail investors on January 15.
SAIL is India’s largest steel producer with an annual production capacity of 21 million mt, with the government holding 75 percent of total equity of the company. The government had previously disinvested five percent of its equity holding in December 2014.