MOIL stake sale in December, Cabinet nod expected in 2-3 weeks

NEW DELHI: The Centre as well as two state governments are likely to offload 20 percent of their stake in Manganese Ore India Ltd ( MOIL) through an initial public offer in December, the Cabinet nod for which is expected in next two to three weeks.

"We would seek the Cabinet approval in the next two- three weeks. The stake sale is expected in the month of December," a senior finance ministry official told.

The official said the Centre will offload 10 percent of its stake in MOIL, while Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh would dilute 5 percent each of their stakes. Earlier, only the Centre was considering selling 10 percent stake in the company.

The government has already invited bids from merchant bankers to manage the stake sale in the Mini-ratna miner MOIL.

"We have to appoint up to three merchant bankers, the bids for which have been invited," the official said.

The Centre holds 81.57 percent in the mini-ratna entity, while Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh hold 9.62 percent and 8.81 percent stake, respectively.

MOIL operates 10 mines, six of which are located in Nagpur and Bhandara districts of Maharashtra and four in Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh.

MOIL had a net profit of Rs 240 crore in 2009-10. The net worth of the company by the end of the last fiscal stood at Rs 1,587 crore.

The government aims to raise Rs 40,000 crore through disinvestment this fiscal. So far, divestment in the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam has fetched over Rs 1,000 crore.

The government is likely to sell its stake in 10 PSUs, including Coal India, MMTC, SAIL and Hindustan Copper, this fiscal. During the last fiscal, it had raised Rs 25,000 crore through stake sale in Oil India, NMDC, REC and NTPC.