Concor stake sale's institutional portion oversubscribed

The government's 5 percent stake sale in the Container Corporation of India (Concor) got off to a positive start today, with the institutional investor portion getting oversubscribed within three hours of opening of trade.

Of the over 77.98 lakh shares on offer for institutional investors, bids for over 1.01 crore shares, or 1.31 times have come in during the first three hours of trade.

The government is selling 97,48,710 shares, or 5 percent, stake in Concor at a floor price of Rs 1,195.

The remaining over 19.49 lakh shares will be sold to retail investors tomorrow. Retail investors, who will be allocated shares at a discount of 5 percent to the cut-off price, are individuals who place bids for shares of total value of not more than Rs 2 lakh.

If fully subscribed, the stake sale would fetch Rs 1,165 crore to the exchequer.

In the secondary market, the stock was trading at Rs 1,199.80, down 2.19 percent, over the previous close. In morning trade, the scrip had dropped to intra-day low of Rs 1,185.80, down Rs 40, or 3.33 percent.

The floor price of Rs 1,195 for the offer for sale (OFS) is at a discount of 2.58 percent over yesterday's closing price of Rs 1,226.65 of Concor on BSE.

The sale of 97.48 lakh shares at this floor price will fetch about Rs 1,165 crore to the exchequer.

Concor is the seventh PSU stake sale of the current fiscal and will help the government inch towards the revised disinvestment target of Rs 25,000 crore.

The government holds 61.80 percent stake in the logistics company, which is under the administrative control of the railway ministry.

Kotak Securities, ICICI Securities and Citigroup Global Markets India Pvt are lead managers of the issue.

Concor provides logistics support such as inland container depots, domestic container terminals, transportation by rail and road, warehousing, storage and other value-added solutions.

The government has already raised over Rs 18,000 crore through stake sale in 6 PSUs -- IOC, NTPC, EIL, PFC, REC and Dredging Corporation.

In the revised estimates, the government has lowered the disinvestment target for the current fiscal to Rs 25,000 crore from the budgeted Rs 41,000 crore.