Govt to sell 12.3% equity in ITDC

The government plans to sell 12.03 per cent paid-up equity in India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) to raise close to Rs260 crore.

The central government currently holds 87.03 per cent of ITDC's equity capital.

Post sale, the government's stake will come down to 75 per cent.
 
The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) has invited bids from merchant bankers to manage the stake sale, which will be carried out through the offer-for-sale (OFS) route.

''The Government of India intends to disinvest 12.03 per cent paid-up equity capital shares of ITDC,'' DIAPM said in the request for proposal.

Significantly, ITDC is among the first lot of state-run units the finance ministry had identified for strategic sale. ITDC manages some of the country's best-known hotels such as the Ashok Group of Hotels.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley had, in the 2015 union budget, had identified PSUs under the tourism ministry as the first to be lined up for strategic divestment.

DIPAM has proposed to reserve up to 5 per cent of the OFS stocks for employees of the PSU. They will also be offered a discount of up to 5 per cent of the discovered price.

On Friday, the ITDC scrip fell 5.59 per cent to close at Rs248.95.

The government plans to raise Rs56,500 crore through divestment in state-run firms, including Rs36,000 crore from minority stake-sales.

The government has so far raised Rs2,700 crore from sale of stake in NHPC and another Rs240 crore through employee subscription of the IOC stake-sale.