SAIL FPO likely to spill over to next fiscal

NEW DELHI: State-run SAIL today said its Rs 8,000 crore follow-on public offer is likely to hit the capital market in the beginning of the next fiscal.

"We may spill it over to next fiscal...early next fiscal," SAIL Chairman C S Verma told reporters on the sidelines of a summit organised by Confederation of Indian Industry.

"The meeting of our ( FPO) committee will be held in which the decision will be taken. We have to make an assessment of the market condition. We have to see which are the issues are coming in the market," he added.

Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma, who was also present on the occasion, also indicated that the FPO might hit next fiscal since "the market is down".

Steel Ministry had said last week that Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) was ready with the prospectus for its FPO, but the timing of the issue to hit the capital market will depend upon the market conditions.

The much-awaited SAIL FPO was earlier slated to hit the capital market in mid-February.

However, an unwarranted conflict with the Book Running Lead Managers delayed the issue.

Subsequently, volatility in the market in the wake of crisis in Middle East and rising inflation coupled with probe into spectrum scandal sent the domestic market topsy-turvy, putting a question mark on the SAIL FPO.

The SAIL FPO is very crucial for the government's Rs 40,000 crore fund-raising plan through disinvestment of the state-own firms.

In the current fiscal so far, the government has garnered around Rs 23,000 crore through share sales of Coal India, Engineers India, MOIL and others.