The government’s effort to revive the disinvestment process through a five per cent stake sale in ONGC through the auction route sailed through on Thursday, but after much confusion thanks to glitches at the exchanges.
At Rs 12,766 crore, it mopped up more than it had planned. The government had proposed to mobilise over Rs 12,400 crore by selling 42.77 crore shares at a floor price of Rs 290 per share. The issue received bids for 42.03 crore shares, or 98.3 per cent, against the offer for 42.77 crore shares.
Mr Siddharth Pradhan, additional secretary, department of disinvestment, was quoted by PTI as saying the issue has got fully subscribed and that Sebi has been asked to look into the technical glitches. Mr Pradhan said bids should have come in for shares worth about Rs 11,800 crore-Rs 11,900 crore and the final proceeds could go even beyond Rs 12,000 crore.
The initial subscription figures suggested the offer was subscribed to the extent of just 68.31 per cent, or for 29.22 crore shares, even as rumours surfaced that LIC pitched in at the last minute following the exchanges’ failure to upload the final figures till much later.
In a joint media statement, the stock excha-nges clarified that while the buy orders at both exchanges reflected a demand of 29.22 shares around market close, there were certain buy orders which were not immediately confirmed, or were erroneously rejected by custodians due to a mismatch at the custodian end, even though the orders were funded.