Rs 8,000 cr Power Grid FPO hits markets today

MUMBAI: With the huge success of Coal India divestment through the biggest IPO in India fresh in the minds of the investors, the government is ready to launch the divestment of Power Grid Corp on Tuesday. The bidding will close on Friday.

In the Power Grid follow on offering, worth approximately Rs 8,000 crore, the government and the company will split the funds in equal proportion since half of the total 84.2 crore shares are new shares being issued by the company while the government is offloading an equal number of shares.

The offering is at a price band of Rs 85-90 per share, a discount of over 9% to the company’s current market price. On Monday, Power Grid shares on the BSE ended 3.6% lower at Rs 98.

For retail investors and Power Grid’s own employees, there is a discount of 5% to the final price on offer and one could bid in a lot size of 65 shares.

After this offering, the government is expected to launch six more offers for divestment during the current financial year, which include the IPO for MOIL, the manganese ore producer, and follow-on offerings for Hindustan Copper, Shipping Corporation of India, ONGC, SAIL and Indian Oil.