Indian govt proposes to sell up to 3.5% stake in defence firm HAL
BENGALURU (Reuters) -India is planning to sell up to 3.5% stake in aerospace and defence company Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd this week in a deal that could fetch the government 28.67 billion rupees ($347.16 million), an exchange filing showed on Wednesday.
So far, the government has mopped up 311.1 billion rupees by selling its shares in state-run firms as against its target of 500 billion rupees for the financial year ending March 31.
The Indian government stares at missing its divestment target for 2022/23 as it plans to put on hold the part sale of its stake in Hindustan Zinc (HZL) unless the company calls off the nearly $3 billion cash acquisition of two Vedanta Group subsidiaries.
The floor price for the HAL stake sale is set at 2,450 rupees apiece, at a discount of 6.7% to Wednesday's close.
The government owns a 75.15% stake in HAL, according to Refinitiv Eikon.
The government plans to sell a 1.75% stake on March 23-24, and has the option to sell 1.75% more stake if needed.
Divestments in state-owned firms is a key revenue-raising measure that helps government to spend on infrastructure-building.
($1 = 82.6100 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman and Chris Thomas in Bengaluru and Nikunj Ohri in NEw Delhi; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Maju Samuel)
