Kick-starting disinvestment in FY22, the Centre raised around Rs 4,000 crore on Thursday by selling 1.95% from the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India or SUUTI’s holding in Axis Bank. Prior to the OFS, SUUTI held 3.45% in Axis Bank.
SUUTI had proposed to sell up to 3.6 crore equity shares, representing 1.21% of paid-up equity share capital of Axis Bank. It had also retained the option to sell an additional 2.2 crore shares or 0.74% of equity share capital. The floor price for Axis Bank OFS was set at Rs 680/share. The OFS was opened on May 19 for non-retail and May 20 for retail and non-retail.
“Issue subscribed over 4 times of base size at a clearing price above the floor price by non-retail investors. SUUTI has decided to exercise the green shoe option,” department of investment and public asset management (DIPAM) secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey had tweeted on Wednesday after Day 1 of OFS.
On Day 2, the retail portion of the Axis Bank OFS managed to garner just 28.5% subscription. As against 58.07 lakh shares reserved for retail investors, bids were received for only 16.6 lakh shares, according to data provided by the exchanges.
The unsubscribed portion of the OFS will be allotted to non-retail investors. Clearing price of Rs 701.55 was fixed for both retail and non-retail bidding of Axis Bank shares. Shares of Axis Bank closed at Rs 705.9 on the BSE on Thursday, down 1.51% from the closing price of the previous day.
The start of the Centre’s ambitious Rs 1.75 lakh-crore disinvestment programme for FY22 has been delayed due to the second wave of Covid-19.