NHPC OFS ;Only a little over 50 percent shares subscribed by Retail Investors

National Hydroelectric Power Corporation's (NHPC's)  offer for sale (OFS) saw an  unenthusiastic participation from the retail investors who subscribed only 58 percent of the shares allocated for the retail category. Retail investors were offered a discount of 5 percent on Tuesday's closing price of NHPC.

Out of the total 125 crore shares on sale, 100 crore shares were reserved for the institutional category and the remaining 25 crore shares for the retail category.Contrary to the retail investors' participation, Institutional Investors lapped up the shares of NHPC in the two day OFS which ended on Thursday. According to the reports state owned life insurance giant Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has bought good amount of shares from the current OFS by NHPC. NHPC can be a part of one's portfolio for its dividends; and Institutional investors may have bought the shares keeping an eye on dividend income from this share. 

With the current OFS of NHPC , GoI stakes in the company will come down from 86 percent to 74.6 percent. GOI is expected to garner Rs. 2,700 crores from the recently concluded OFS of NHPC by selling 125 crore shares. The stock reacted negatively on Thursday and closed at Rs. 21.15. Edelweiss Securities; IDFC securities; and HSBC Securities and Capital Markets India Pvt. Ltd. are the appointed investment bankers for the NHPC OFS. 

NHPC OFS is the first divestment move taken by the GoI in the current fiscal. The GOI has set a target of raising Rs. 56,500 crores by selling its stakes in various PSU companies which according to government sources  have already been identified. Government is expected to announce soon a sale of 10 percent in OIL India , a state-run oil explorer.

The stock is trading at 20.75 , down by almost 1.66 percent on an intraday basis on Friday.