New Delhi, Feb 19 (FN Agency) The Rs 819 crore Initial Public Offering (IPO) of RailTel has been subscribed more than 42 times, following heavy demand from all categories of investors, says the government. “Railtel IPO received great demand from all categories of investors and wS subscribed more than 42 times. We thank all investors for their participation,” said Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey in a tweet.
Wholly-owned by the Government of India and under the administrative control of the Ministry of Railways, RaiTel is an information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure provider. In this offer for sale, the government is selling 87.15 million shares, or a 27.16 per cent stake and plans to raise around Rs819 crore. In another tweet, Pandey said the government has received multiple bids for strategic sale of Pawan Hans. “Multiple expressions of interest have been received for privatisation of Pawan Hans Limited. The transaction will now move to the second stage. ” Thursday was the last date for putting bids for Pawan Hans, in which government owns 51 per cent stake while Oil and Natural Gas Corp holds the remaining 49 per cent. ONGC has also decided to tender its share in the strategic sale. Also, the government’s stake in BPCL and Air India has received “multiple expressions of interest” and the transactions are now in due diligence stage.
For 2021-22, the government has set a disinvestment target of Rs 1.75 lakh crore, over five times what it is aiming to raise in the current fiscal. The government is also looking to conclude strategic sale of Pawan Hans, BPCL, Air India, Shipping Corporation of India, IDBI Bank, BEML and Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd, in the next fiscal. The initial public offering of LIC would be launched and strategic sale process of 2 PSU banks and one general insurance company would be initiated.