MUMBAI: India Friday sold off a stake in state-run steel giant SAIL as part of an ambitious disinvestment plan to reduce the country's deficit, official data showed, raising around $280 million.
The single-day auction received bids for 241.3 million shares in the Steel Authority of India (SAIL) against an offering of 240.4 million shares, preliminary figures posted on the stock exchange website showed.
The sale represented a 5.82 percent stake in the steel company, the world's 14th-largest steel producer with annual output of 13.5 million metric tons.
The divestment trimmed the government's holding in SAIL to close to 80 percent.
The bids were at an average price of 63.07 rupees ($1.10) for each share which suggested the government could raise around $280 million from the offering, analysts calculated. The sum was at the lower end of pre-sale estimates.
The government had trimmed the SAIL offer size by half amid a weak overall global business climate that has affected global demand for steel.
The sale is part of a government drive to reduce India's budget deficit, which is set to reach 5.2 percent of gross domestic product in this financial year to March 31, 2013, and avert a sovereign credit ratings downgrade.
SAIL reported a 23 percent year-on-year decline in third-quarter net profit to 4.8 billion rupees ($88 million) for the three months to December.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.