Coal India OFS fully subscribed

Mumbai: The offer for sale (OFS) in Coal India by the government, which sought to reduce its ownership by 3 per cent, was fully subscribed Thursday, with both institutional and retail buyers putting in robust bids in the divestment that would fetch New Delhi about Rs 5,000 crore.

Institutions submitted bids for 158.4 million shares and retail buyers sought to buy more than 61.9 million shares against the total offer of 186.2 million.

Bidding opened for institutional investors on Wednesday and for retail investors on Thursday. In total, 39.6 million shares were reserved for retail investors.


Shares of Coal India declined 4 per cent each on Tuesday and Wednesday, and fell a further 1.9 per cent to Rs 261.10 on Thursday.

Data on how much the green shoe option (additional bids) in the share sale will be exercised by the government will be known later.

The government currently holds 78.32 per cent stake in Coal India.

This is the first big-ticket sale from the government so far in FY 2019 against the disinvestment target of Rs 80,000 crore.

So far, the government raised about Rs 10,000 crore by selling stakes in RITES, IRCON, Mishra Dhatu Nigam (MIDHANI) and Garden Reach Shipbuilders, and also through a follow on offer of Bharat-22 ETF.