Government has set a floor price of Rs. 40 a share for the offer for sale (OFS) of state-owned National Aluminium Co. Ltd (Nalco), which is set to open on Friday.

The floor price of Rs 40 per share is about 10 per cent discount to yesterday's close of Rs 44.65. The government is aiming to sell a total of 128.9 million shares through the offer and an additional 128.9 million shares, which would aggregate to 10 per cent of the total paid-up equity share capital of the company. The issue has been subscribed 38.08 per cent till Friday early afternoon at the time of reporting.

At the price of Rs 40 per share, the government could generate about Rs 1,031 crore for selling 10 per cent stake in the country. The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on disinvestment had recently cleared sale of 25.77 crore shares or up to 10 per cent of Nalco through the OFS. The government has decided toput 5 per cent on sale and keep the option to sell additional 5 per cent.

The shares of the company fell about 8 per cent to Rs. 40.90 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The shares are trading just above the base price on the exchange while its benchmark Sensex was down 0.2 per cent at 19,535.47 points.