India’s biggest energy exploration company - Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) - will launch a 42.77 crore share auction on March 1 for raising at least Rs 12,400 crore as part of the government's divestment programme. The government approved the auction at a minimum price of Rs 290 a share, which is 2.3% higher than yesterday’s close of Rs 283.55 a share.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is seeking to raise funds as the government struggles to meet a budget deficit target of 4.6% of gross domestic product after slowing economic growth lowered revenue receipts. 25% slump in the Sensex index in 2011 undermined efforts to sell shares of state-owned companies, with the government meeting 3% of its Rs 40,000 crore target for the year ending March 31, 2012.
In a separate development, Government owned oil majors Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) along with GAIL India is likely to offer $2 billion to acquire Africa-focused gas explorer Cove Energy, joining a bidding war over the UK-listed company.
Both the companies are aiming to beat a $1.77 billion bid by Thai state-controlled oil and gas group PTT and Royal Dutch Shell Plc's offer worth $1.6 billion earlier this month, which already represented a 70% premium to Cove's share price when it announced plans to sell in January.
| Company Name | CMP |
|---|---|
| ONGC | 299.35 |
| Oil India | 490.85 |
| Jindal Drilling&Inds | 540.75 |
| Deep Industries | 484.40 |
| Asian Energy Service | 319.15 |
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