7 merchant bankers bid to manage OIL stake sale

A many as 7 merchant bankers, including Citi Group Global and Deutsche Equities, have evinced interest in managing the government's 10 percent stake sale in Oil India, which could fetch about Rs 2,000 crore.

The government plans to sell 10 percent of its stake in 'Navratna' OIL through an Offer For Sale (OFS).

The other merchant bankers who have put in their bids include Edelweiss Financial Securities, IDBI Capital Market Securities, ICICI Securities, JM Financial and SBI Capital Markets Ltd.

The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management will on June 24 select as many as three merchant bankers for managing the OIL disinvestment.

Sale of 10 percent stake or over 6.01 crore shares in OIL, at the current market price, could fetch over Rs 2,000 crore to the exchequer.

OIL stock trading at Rs 357, up 1.28 percent on BSE.

Government holds 67.64 percent in OIL, which is engaged in the business of exploration, development and production of crude oil, Natural Gas and LPG.

Government has pegged disinvestment target at Rs 56,500 crore for 2015-16. Of this, Rs 36,000 crore is to come from minority stake sale in PSU and Rs 20,500 crore from strategic sale.

The government has kickstarted the disinvestment programme for the current fiscal with 11.36 percent stake sale in NHPC, which fetched about Rs 2,700 crore to the exchequer.