SUUTI likely to sell nearly 4 crore shares in Axis Bank at Rs 680 per share

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State-owned Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (SUUTI) is most likely to sell 3.6 crore (nearly 4 crore) shares in Axis Bank at a floor price of Rs 680 per share, it said in a regulatory filing on May 18.

SUUTI is mulling to sell the stake, which represents 1.21 percent of the total paid up equity share capital of the company as on March 31, 2021 -- through the Offer For Sale (OFS) route on May 19 and May 20. It is awaiting for the Sebi approval.

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This excludes equity shares underlying depository receipts or the oversubscription option which represents 1.95 percent of outstanding equity shares of the company as on March 31, 2021, excluding equity shares underlying depository receipts, i.e. 58,078,568 equity shares.

The state-owned undertaking is aiming to sell the stake in Axis Bank which is considered to be Rs Rs 2448 crore, while it may sell upto 5.8 crore shares, taking in total of Rs 3949.34 crore. As of March 31, 2021, SUUTI holds 3.45 percent stake in Axis Bank. The main brokers on behalf of SUUTI include ICICI Securities Limited, Citigroup Global  Markets India Private  Limited and Morgan Stanley India Company Private Limited.

Previously in December 2020, the Union government sold nearly one crore shares of Axis Bank worth around Rs 600 crore through SUUTI. Between December 2 and 4, SUUTI took advantage of the buoyancy in the equity market and sold 61.43 lakh shares of Axis Bank.

This fetched the government Rs 374.21 crore. Prior to this, SUUTI sold 36.25 lakh shares for Rs 221.47 crore between November 26 and 27.

Following the UTI's US-64 investment plan ran into trouble in 2002, the government bifurcated it into SUUTI and UTI Asset Management Co. Pvt. Ltd. According to details, SUUTI holds the assured-return investment plans of UTI, while UTI Asset Management looks after the market-linked plans.