The Government may have managed to garner Rs 12,767 crore, a tad more than what it had targeted (Rs 12,405 crore) from the auction of its 5 per cent stake in ONGC. But it also left the Government rather embarrassed. With institutional investors giving it the cold shoulder, the offer had to be salvaged by public sector insurance giant, LIC, which justified its fast-growing reputation as the Government's ‘investor of last resort'.
It bid for the bulk of the shares on offer, that too at a price of around Rs 303 per share, much higher than the floor price of Rs 290.
High drama surrounded the proceedings. Stock exchange data 10 minutes before auction close indicated that the stake sale was a flop with bids received for only 1.4 crore shares out of the 42.77 crore shares on offer.
By close of market, however, news reports suggested that 29.22 crore shares had been bid for. Confusion reigned for many hours and late at night, the exchanges announced that bids for as many as 42.03 crore shares had been received. The initial mess-up in numbers was attributed to technical glitches, which had caused erroneous rejection of some huge bids made earlier. The argument, however, found few takers. Post the exercise, the ONGC stock has lost ground, and currently trades at Rs 281.
Promoter fund boost for SpiceJet
Finally, there was some good news from the beleaguered aviation sector. Kalanithi Maran, promoter of low cost carrier, SpiceJet, is set to infuse Rs 100 crore in the airline, for an additional 5 per cent stake. This is the second fund infusion by the promoter group in less than six months. Last October, promoters had pumped around Rs 130 crore into the airline. Coming as it does when most airlines in the country are faced with mounting losses and funding concerns, the latest capital infusion will provide breathing space for SpiceJet. With 4.29 crore shares to be issued, the exercise values the SpiceJet stock at around Rs 23. Post the announcement late Friday, the stock rose more than 4 per cent to close at Rs 21.55 in the special trading session on Saturday.