Concor disinvestment from Monday: Sinha

NEW DELHI, OCT 31: The government would start this year's public sector disinvestment programme with the issue of upto nine million shares o...

NEW DELHI, OCT 31: The government would start this year’s public sector disinvestment programme with the issue of upto nine million shares of Container Corporation of India (Concor) on November 2, Finance Minister, Yashwant Sinha announced here today.

As decided earlier all the shares of government equity would be divested in domestic market at prices determined by the market and this was expected to start the revival of capital market, he told a news conference.

"We have decided to divest a total of 10 million shares out of which one million we are keeping the stock so that at some point of time we can offer it to the retail investors," Sinha said.

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The Finance Ministry statement said the government was committed to continuing its disinvestment programme in 1998/99, and that sales of shares in Indian Oil Corp, Gas Authority of India Ltd, and Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd, would follow the Concor sale.

"I have always thought that I will meet my disinvestment target of Rs 5,000 crore and I certainly stillthink that I will meet my disinvestment target," Sinha said. "Don’t entertain any doubts on that."

He said domestic institutional investors and foreign institutional investors registered in India would be allowed to participate in the issue. The disinvestment process would be through the book-building method and the allotment of shares would depend on demand and price, he added.

The government would also offer shares to the retail investors at a discount which will follow the institutional offer. This is the government’s second attempt to float Concor shares, though the BJP-led coalition government’s first. The project was postponed in February after the planned offer price of Rs 400 a shares brought a deluge of objections that it was too high.