Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) could be next on the list of the Centre’s disinvestment offer, while mega issue of ONGC and Indian Oil may take some more time.
The Centre plans to divest 5 per cent or around 12.24 crore shares in the power generation equipment maker BHEL. The company’s order book is healthy, with improvement in the power sector. During first three months (April-June), the company managed to get orders worth ₹20,000-25,000 crore while the outstanding in order book is now over ₹1 lakh crore.
All these were reflected in the share prices, which has gained over 20 per cent since April 1. On Tuesday, share prices closed at ₹282. At this price, the Government could get over ₹3,400 crore. Stake sale will be carried through Offer for Sale via stock exchanges. Twenty per cent of shares offered will be reserved for retail investors i.e. those investors who placed bids for shares of total value of not more than ₹ 2 lakh. In addition 20 per cent discount will be also offered to retail investors.
Although, the government has approvals for mega issue such as ONGC and Indian Oil, officials indicated that these would be delayed.
“Though, there is clarity on subsidy sharing, the dip in crude prices is making things difficult for both the company,” an official said. The government plans to sell 42.78 crore shares of ONGC. At the Friday closing price of ₹266.90, the government could get little over ₹11,400 crore which is less than earlier estimate of ₹13,000 crore.
On Indian Oil, the official said deregulation of petrol and diesel prices has benefited the balance sheet the downstream company. However, the company has large refinery capacity (operates 10 of 22 refineries in the country) and dip in crude prices is likely to affect its Gross Refinery Margin (GRM) which in turn would impact the profitability. However, share prices of Indian Oil surged over 14 per cent since April 1.
The Centre intends to sell around 24.28 crore shares in Indian Oil. Based on the latest share price of ₹425.25, this could fetch over ₹10,300 crore for the government.