BPCL Trust sells shares worth Rs 5,525 crore

Earlier in March, BPCL board approved sale of entire stake in Numaligarh Refinery for Rs 9,875 crore. Oil India, Engineers India and Government of Assam will be picking up the stake.

The Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) Trust has informed the exchanges that it sold 126,033,090 equity shares at Rs 438.41 per share - making the total sell-off worth Rs 5,525.42 crore.

Meanwhile, in a block deal worth Rs 608 crore, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has acquired 13,884,962 equity shares in BPCL.

The deal was conducted through the ICICI Prudential Value Discovery Fund at Rs 438.1 per share, the company said in a regulatory filing with the NSE on March 10.

On March 8, CNBC Awaaz reported that the country’s second biggest state refiner, which is also one of the key divestment candidates of the government, has launched a block deal to sell up to 4 percent of its treasury shares worth Rs 3,700 crore.

Sources with the knowledge of the matter had told CNBC Awaaz that the block deal was for 4 percent of the shares, but "the size may be hiked to 7 percent based on market demand."

"The situation is fluid as of now," one source had said, while another added that most of the proceeds will likely be used for a special dividend for shareholders.

“Citi, Kotak and ICICI Securities are the bankers to the block deal," the second individual added.