CCEA clears 7.64% NFL stake sale; to rake in over Rs 125 cr

The Cabinet on Thursday cleared the proposal for 7.64-percent stake sale in National Fertilisers Ltd (NFL), which is expected to fetch around Rs 125 crore to the exchequer. "The CCEA has approved disinvestment of NFL though the offer for sale (OFS) route," sources said.

The government plans to disinvest 7.64-percent stake, or over 3.74 crore shares of NFL in the domestic market. At the current market price of Rs 33.90 apiece, the 7.64 per cent stake sale could fetch over Rs 125 crore to the exchequer. At present, the government holds 97.64 per cent stake in
NFL.

The department of disinvestment (DoD) has approached the CCEA for stake sale in the company through four merchant bankers — IDBI Capital Market Services, Avendus Capital, SBI Cap and Kotak Investment Banking — were in fray for managing the stake sale of NFL.

An inter-ministerial panel, headed by disinvestment secretary, had cleared the NFL stake-sale in May. The paid-up equity capital of the company, as on March 31, 2012, was Rs 490.58 crore. The stake-sale in NFL is part of DoD's effort to meet the minimum 10-percent public shareholding norm as stipulated by market regulator Sebi for PSUs.

The government uses the OFS route, popularly known as auction method, to divest its stake in PSUs that come in top 100 companies in terms of market capitalisation. It has already used the route to sell stake in Oil India, NTPC, NMDC and Hindustan Copper during last fiscal. The government proposes to raise Rs 40,000 crore by way of disinvestment in the current fiscal.