Coal India falls 4% on govt's divestment plan

NEW DELHI: Extending the losses to the second session, shares of Coal India suffered a loss of over 4 per cent in early trade on Wednesday post reports of stake divestment by the government in the state-run PSU.

The government has decided to divest a 9 per cent stake in Coal India through a two-day offer for sale starting Wednesday, which is expected to fetch the Centre about Rs 14,000 crore at the floor price, including a greenshoe option.

Of the total 9 per cent stake selling, the centre has decided to sell 3 per cent through an offer for sale with a greenshoe option and to sell another 6 per cent to financial institutions and retail investors at a floor price of Rs 266 per share, ET reported.

At present centre holds 78.32 per cent in Coal India which is 3.32 per cent short of the 25 per cent mandatory public holding mark. This 3.32 per cent in the company needs to be divested by the government in order to comply.

Shares of the company were trading at Rs 266.05 apiece, down 3.57 per cent around 9:50 am. The benchmark Sensex was flat at 33,890 at that time.

Coal India, along with Tata Steel, Adani Ports and PowerGrid featured among the top losers in the Sensex index. As many as 19 stocks were incurring losses in the Sensex kitty, compared with 12 gainers.