Govt. to sell 4% stake in HCL on Friday

Govt. to sell 4% stake in HCL on FridayThe Union Government's ambitious disinvestment programme will kick off this Friday with a 4 per cent stake sale in Hindustan Copper Ltd (HCL).

In a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), HCL said the sale should commence at 9.15 am on 23rd of November and close at 3.30 pm on the same day.

The stake sale, which will take place through the auction route, will fetch the exchequer an estimated amount of nearly Rs 900 crore.

Initially, the government had wanted to sell 9.59 per cent stake of its 99.59 per cent equity in HCL, but the weak market conditions eventually prompted it to split the sale into two parts. Speaking on the topic, disinvestment Secretary MH Khan said, "We don't want to flood the market with extra liquidity so we are divesting stakes in two tranches."

Following the announcement, HCL shares shed Rs 9.6 or 3.86 per cent to trade at Rs 239.20 a piece on Wednesday. The total volume of HCL shares traded was 246,074 at the Bonmbay Stock Exchange.

HCL is going to be the first public sector company in which the government will sell its stake. So far, apart from HCL, the Union Cabinet has approved disinvestment proposals for MMTC, NMDC, SAIL, OIL, Nalco, RINL and BHEL.

The government aims to use the proceeds from sales of its stakes in public sector companies to slash its mounting fiscal deficit. It aims to pocket around Rs 30,000 crore its disinvestment programme during the current financial year.