Government To Sell 4% Stake In Hindustan Copper

The government will sell a 4 percent stake in Hindustan Copper Ltd. through an offer for sale as it looks to achieve the steep divestment target set in the Union Budget 2017-18.

The Centre has offered to sell 3.7 crore shares in the copper miner through the offer, it said a stock exchange filing on Tuesday. The floor price has been set at Rs 64.75 per share, at an 8 percent discount to Tuesday's closing price of Rs 70.6.

Following the sale, the government's holding in Hindustan Copper will decline to 78.8 percent.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech had said that the government aims to raise as much as Rs 72,500 crore in the current fiscal through various stake sales. So far it has raised about Rs 7,500 crore through share sale in five companies, the most recent being National Fertilizers Ltd. in July, through which the government raised Rs 535 crore.

About Rs 1,207 crore came from initial public offering of HUDCO in May, Rs 1,192 crore from the Nalco OFS in April, Rs 203 crore through Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers OFS in June.

Stake sale in the copper miner will begin on August 2 but will only be restricted to non-retail investors. Retail investors will be allowed to place their bids on August 3. Almost 20 percent of the offer size has been reserved for the retail category, while 5 percent for eligible employees.

Hindustan Copper's stock has gained over 18 percent this year but a significant part of that rally came in late July. Copper futures gained 7.5 percent on the London Metal Exchange in the last one month after the world's largest copper consumer China said it may scrap copper imports. Hindustan Copper benefited from the rally that ensued with the stock rising 8.6 percent in the same period.