Nalco stake sale oversubscribed 1.63 times, scrip dips 7.7%

New Delhi, Apr 19 (PTI) The PSU disinvestment drive for the current fiscal took off successfully today, with NALCO’s share sale oversubscribed 1.63 times by institutional buyers. As of 1425 hours, as against 7.73 crore shares offered to institutional buyers, bids came in for over 12.60 crore shares. The share sale for today will continue till the close of market hours. However, the Nalco scrip touched a low of Rs 67.75, down 7.76 per cent over previous close on the BSE. Of its total holding of 74.58 per cent in Nalco, the government is selling 5 per cent or over 9.66 crore shares at a floor price of Rs 67. The two-day stake sale could fetch about Rs 640 crore to the exchequer. Over 1.93 crore have been reserved for retail investors who will also be offered additional discount over the issue price. Retail investors are defined as individuals ones who place bids for sales of total value of not more than Rs 2 lakh in aggregate. National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) is the first disinvestment of the current fiscal, which began on April 1. For this fiscal, the government has set a target of Rs 46,500 crore through minority stake sale and Rs 15,000 crore from strategic disinvestment. In 2016-17, the government had raised over Rs 46,247 crore from disinvestment. PTI