Coal India stake sale: LIC buys almost 50 per cent of shares offered

Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), the country's largest insurer, picked up almost half of the shares on offer in the Coal India stake sale of Rs 22,558 crore, once again coming in to ensure success of a government divestment.

LIC bought over 28.47 crore shares or 4.51 per cent stake in the recently concluded offer for sale of Coal India (CIL).

The state-run insurer's stake in CIL now stands at 7.24 per cent, up from 2.73 per cent, as per a disclosure on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) by Coal India.

The government sold 63.16 crore shares or 10 per cent stake in the country's biggest coal producer through an offer for sale (OFS) on January 30. The stake sale fetched the government Rs 22,558 crore .

Calculated at the floor price of Rs 358 a piece, LIC has bought shares worth an estimated Rs 10,200 crore in the CIL disinvestment.

Coal India was the biggest share sale by any private or public sector company in the country and exceeds the previous record of over Rs 15,000 crore made by the coal behemoth itself in 2010.

Shares of CIL on Monday closed 1.65 per cent lower at Rs 354.90 per scrip on the BSE over its closing price on Friday.

In a previous occasion of stake sale in Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) in 2012, LIC had bought 84 per cent of shares on offer. In 2013, the state-run insurance giant picked up over 70 per cent in the SAIL divestment.