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Aabhas Pandya & Partha Pratim Sinha
New Delhi, Jan 19: After its Rs 225-crore divestment to institutional investors, Container Corporation of India (Concor) is likely to come out with a public issue for retail investors towards the end of February, 1999. According to sources, the government is contemplating the sale of 10 lakh shares to the retail public before the closure of the current financial year.
The company plans to mobilise between Rs 20-25 crore by divesting these shares. Thus, the price of the issue is likely to be pegged in the range of Rs 200-250. On January 14, the Concor scrip closed at a price of Rs 230 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The government has appointed DSP-Merrill Lynch, JM Financial and UTI Securities as the lead managers to the issue. In November, 1998, the government had divested the first tranche of 9 million shares of Concor through book-building to institutional investors. The issue was oversubscribed with investments from 40 investors, including 15 foreign institutional investors. The book for the offer closedon November 14 and the shares were offloaded at a price of Rs 250. Consequently, a downward adjustment was made in the Concor price on the BSE. Before the issue, the Concor scrip was last traded on October 15 at a price of Rs 378.
The divested Concor stocks were listed on November 20 on the BSE and on December 2 on the National Stock Exchange. However, the initial trading in the counter was marked by lacklustre investor response. The first trading at the Concor counter was recorded on November 30, a flat 10 days after the fresh listing, with only 100 shares changing hands. During the whole of 1998, the scrip was traded only on 27 days. However, during the current year, the counter has already witnessed trading on eight days with a high turnover of 75,400 shares on January 7. The divestment in Concor forms the part of governmentÕs programme to offload its holding in public sector companies and mobilise over Rs 5000 crore in the current fiscal year. So far, the government has achieved a paltry percentage ofthe target with the Rs 225 crore divestment in Concor. The government has now picked up Gail for divestment of 84 million shares to institutional investors with a mobilisation target of Rs 600 crore.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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