The disinvestment ministry is approaching the foreign investment promotion board (FIPB) to seek permission to allow foreign institutional investors (FII), NRIs and overseas corporate bodies (OCB) to participate in the ensuing public offer in Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL).A heavy industry ministry official said that “though 100 per cent foreign equity participation is allowed through automatic route, the permission is sought for safety purpose”. Confident of mopping up atleast Rs 800 crore from the issue for 3.6 million shares (25 per cent equity) in the joint venture with Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC), they said that the issue would be a domestic one but on international platform.The disinvestment ministry expects to file the prospectus before the market regulator Sebi on 24th of this month for completing the IPO by the middle of March. A monitoring mechanism has been put in place to ensure that IPO does not spill over to the next financial year. The public issue is the second stage of disinvestment in MUL where the venture partner SMC has agreed to give an underwriting of Rs 2300 per share as part of the agreement and the government has decided to offer 25 per cent equity by March, 2003 through an IPO and the remaining is to be sold in the next financial year. The domestic IPO of MUL would have an international footing as roadshows are being planned in US, UK, Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore.
