Auction of ONGC shares – dubbed as India’s biggest-ever divestment transaction – was completed on Thursday without any glitches at the stock exchanges end, NSE and BSE said in a joint release around 11 p.m. last night.

The exchanges systems operated smoothly and normally, the release said, adding that the final demand was for 42.04 crore shares against an offer of 42.77 crore shares.

The ONGC auction was seen as a test case for more such divestment deals waiting to happen in the coming months.

The uncertainty over the fate of the much-hyped auction process came essentially due to “mismatch at the custodian’s end”, according to the joint release.

“While the buy orders at both exchanges reflected a demand of 29.22 crore shares around the market close, there were certain buy orders which were not immediately confirmed or were erroneously rejected by custodians due to a mismatch at the custodian end, even though, the orders were funded”.

The exchanges said that these orders were not reflected in the demand of 29.22 crore shares. After rectification of these errors, the final demand was for 42.04 crore shares. Monies and orders received after normal market close have not been considered by the Exchanges in the offer for sale, the release added.

The ONGC auction is understood to have sailed through by a last minute rescue by Life Insurance Corporation of India.

The response from foreign investors and other sovereign funds were rather muted in the wake of the floor price being priced above the prevailing market price. The subsidy issue also added to the uncertainty.

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