SJVNL issue price fixed at Rs 26; govt to collect Rs 1,079cr

NEW DELHI: The issue price of the initial public offer of the state-run hydel power company SJVNL has been fixed at Rs 26 a share, which will fetch the Centre over Rs 1,000 crore.

According to information available on the Sebi Website, the issue price has been fixed at the upper end of the price band of Rs 23-26 a share. At this price the government will be able to mop up Rs 1,079 crore from the first selloff process of this fiscal. This is also lowest amount raised so far from divestment since the Manmohan Singh took charge for the second term last May.

Through the public float, the Centre has divested 10 per cent of its 74.5 per cent stake constituting 41.5 crore shares of Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVNL).The IPO closed on May 3 and had received a resounding response from investors.

Unilke other issues last fiscal, this issue got subscribed a whopping 6.61 times--the best in recent times. The offer also saw a robust participation from retail investors with the portion reserved for them getting subscribed 3.11 times.

SJVNL is the sixth divestment deal by the UPA government in its second term. Most PSUs divested by the UPA in the second term did not get good response from the retail investors.

SJVNL is a joint venture between the Centre and Himachal Pradesh with the former holding 74.5 per cent stake and the latter 25.5 per cent. With 10 per cent equity dilution, the Centre's stake would come down to 64.5 per cent.

The current power generation capacity of the company stands at 1,500mw and it plans to augment this capacity by about 1,200mw by the end of the current Plan.