The government plans to sell up to 1.5% of its stake in ONGC, the country’s largest oil and gas producer, this week in order to raise approximately Rs 3,000 crore.
The government’s Offer For Sale (OFS) will be open on March 30 and 31, according to a stock exchange filing by the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) on Tuesday.
“The promoter (the government) proposes to sell up to 94,352,094 equity shares of the company (representing 0.75 percent of the total paid-up equity share capital of the company) on March 30, 2022 (to non-retail investors) and March 31, 2022 (to retail investors), with an option to sell an additional 94,352,094 equity shares (in case of oversubscription),” it said.
The government owns 60.41 percent of ONGC, which generates half of India’s oil and gas. A minimum of 25% of the shares in the OFS are reserved for mutual funds and insurance companies, with the remaining 10% reserved for retail investors. Individual investors who bid for no more than 2 lakh shares are considered retail investors.
According to the filing, ONGC employees can apply for equity shares worth up to Rs 5 lakh each, and 0.075 percent of equity shares sold in the OFS will be offered to eligible employees at the cut-off price. The OFS’s floor price has been set at Rs 159 per share. This price is 7% lower than ONGC’s stock closing price of Rs 171.05 on the BSE on Tuesday.
