Foreign Investors Put In 1,800 Cr for OIL Stake Sale

New Delhi: Foreign investors lapped up as much 60 per cent of the 6 crore shares in Oil India (OIL) that were put on offer, pumping in about 1,800 crore to buy equity in India's second biggest explorer.

"60 per cent of the OIL share allotment has been made to the FIIs and the remaining 40 per cent to MFs, banks, HNIs, insurance companies and retail," a senior official said.

Besides, OIL was the first offer for sale (OFS) wherein retail investors too were alloted shares, the official added.

Unlike in the previous PSU stake sale, the Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) have shown keen interest in the OIL disinvestment and the highest bid came in at 527 a share, a 3.33 per cent more than the floor or auction start price of 510.

The government had last week sold 10 per cent stake in OIL, garnering over 3,100 crore from the sale, a resounding success with the issue being lapped up by more than twice the number of investors originally targeted.

The OIL issue was fully subscribed even before the close of market hours. The issue got bids for 15.41 crore shares as against 6.01 crore on offer.

The median bidding price was, however, at 517.99, and at this price the government would garner 3,113.80 crore.

OIL scrip closed at 534.60, up 1.72 per cent on BSE.

Sources said LIC, SBI MF, HDFC MF and other financial institutions participated in the OIL share sale offer as they are "very positive on oil and gas sector".

Bids for over 7.50 crore shares were with 100 per cent margin, meaning if the bidder decides to withdraw later they can do so. Bids that came in with zero per cent margin were over 7.91 crore shares, according to the NSE data.

While ONGC issue in March last year went through with help from state-owned LIC, retail investors had bid for OIL in numbers that were unseen during the previous three government auctions in ONGC, Hindustan Copper and NMDC.

With the OIL stake sale, the total realisation from disinvestment in the current fiscal has gone up to over 10,000 crore. The government has budgeted 30,000 crore to come from disinvestment in the current fiscal.

The government's stake has come down to 68.43 per cent in OIL after disinvestment. OIL's paid-up capital as on March 2012 was 601 crore. OIL got listed on stock exchanges in 2009.

As on March 31, 2012, the company had employee strength of 8,096. As per OFS regulation, some allotment would also be made to the OIL employees.

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