Institutional investors lap up EIL share sale

 The government on Friday added Rs 637 crore more in its disinvestment kitty, through a 10 per cent stake sale in Engineers India (EIL), which it claimed was oversubscribed 2.54 per cent.

The share sale was, however, successful due to institutional bidders who bid for over 5.91 crore shares as against 2.69 crore on offer, according to the stock exchange data.
Retail investors bid for 2.64 crore shares, the data said.

With this, the government’s divestment kitty goes up to Rs 13,337 crore, as against the Budget target of Rs 69,500 crore. This was the fifth share sale in this fiscal, with the government offloading IOC, PFC, REC and Dredging Corp in the past 10 months.

The government is far behind its Budget target for divestment, but the Disinvestment Secretary Neeraj Gupta said that for the next share sale plan, the government will look for only the right opportunity.

Analysts suggest that a choppy market does not provide the government with a right opportunity in this fiscal. The government currently holds 69.37 per cent in EIL.