RCF sale price fixed at Rs 45 a share; OFS tomorrow

The base price for selling government's 12.5 percent stake in Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers tomorrow has been fixed at Rs 45 apiece which could garner a minimum of Rs 310 crore.

"With reference to earlier announcement ... regarding Offer For Sale (OFS) of shares by promoter...Government of India has now informed BSE that the floor price for the sale in terms of the OFS guidelines shall be...Rs 45 per equity share of RCF," the state-run firm said in an exchange filing.

RCF's shares today closed at Rs 43.85 apiece on the BSE, down 1.68 percent over the previous closing. The Finance Ministry is considering to sell 12.5 percent stake, or 6.89 crore shares, of the company through the OFS route.

The government holds 92.5 percent stake in RCF and the paid up capital of the company is Rs 551.69 crore. The Cabinet had in December approved the stake sale of RCF, which manufactures fertiliser and industrial products.

The RCF stake sale would help the government inch closer to the disinvestment target for the current fiscal. As per the revised estimates, the government is likely to raise Rs 24,000 crore through disinvestment in the current fiscal, lower than the budgeted Rs 30,000 crore.

So far this fiscal, it has raised over Rs 21,500 crore. In the remaining weeks of the fiscal ending March 31, the Finance Ministry plans to sell stake in three more companies -- MMTC, SAIL and NALCO.