SAIL's Rs 8,000 crore FPO likely in June

The much-awaited Rs 8,000 crore follow-on-public offer (FPO) of Steel Authority of India (SAIL) is likely to hit the market in June, a top government official said on Monday.

"SAIL's FPO is the first issue to have got fast track tag from Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), where the government has to only inform the market regulator about it after filing the RHP (Red Herring Prospectus) directly with the Registrar of Companies(ROC)," sources in Department of Disinvestment said.

"A select few issues get fast track status from the market regulator on qualifying certain criteria of Sebi's Issue of Capital and Disclosure Regulation (ICDR) guidelines," he said.

"The RHP of SAIL is likely to be filed by end-May or early June. Since we have liberty to announce the issue date in the RHP itself, so it can hit the markets within 15 days of filing of papers with ROC," sources said.

The government, which holds 85.8 per cent stake in SAIL, plans to divest five per cent of its stake through this FPO, another five per cent would be fresh equity sale, sources said.

After the FPO, the government's stakeholding in SAIL is expected to come down to over 76 per cent.