BOC Group Ltd, the overseas promoter of Linde India Ltd (formerly BOC India Ltd), has fixed the floor price for its offer-for-sale (OFS) at Rs 230 a share.

The OFS, to take place on Thursday, will see BOC Group, the British promoter entity, offload 1.23 crore equity shares of Rs 10 each (representing around 14.5 per cent of the paid-up equity of Linde India). It will take place at the separate window of the BSE and the NSE.

In response to the floor price, the Linde India stock shed its higher market price on Wednesday. It closed at Rs 250.95, down overnight by 4.2 per cent on the BSE.

The OFS is meant to reduce the promoter holding to 75 per cent level required by the market regulator to keep a corporate entity listed in India.

Linde AG, the current ultimate parent of Linde India, holds 89.48 per cent stake through BOC Group Ltd. According to market analysts, the industrial gas maker has come to a full circle since 2011, when the promoters were considering delisting of the stock from the Indian bourses. On January 4, 2011, through a public announcement delisting of the company, then BOC India, was proposed. “After the announcement, market price of the stock had soared to a level above Rs 500 a share.

“The sedate counter had begun its upward journey in 2005 (from much bellow Rs 100, ahead of acquisition offer for BOC Group by Linde Group of Germany in April 4, 2006,” recalled an analyst with an institutional brokerage.

The Linde India had crossed two other milestones in its upward journey till 2011; preferential allotment of equity to promoter group and a follow-up 20 per cent open offer, both in 2008.

>jayanta.mallick@thehindu.co.in

Related Topics