Indian Oil share buyback set to be a windfall for govt
Indian Oil to buyback 3.06% of equity shares for ₹4,435 crore; board recommends interim dividend of 67.5% (Rs 6.75 per share) for 2018-19
New Delhi: Indian Oil Corp (IOC) on Thursday said its board had approved the buyback of 3.06% of equity shares for ₹ 4,435 crore. The board of country’s largest oil firm approved the buyback of up to 29.76 crore equity shares, or 3.06%, at ₹ 149 per share, IOC said in a regulatory filing.
The buyback price is 8.6% premium to Thursday’s closing price of IOC stocks on the BSE. IOC closed 0.5% higher at ₹ 137.20 on the exchange.
The government, which holds a 54.06% stake in the company, is expected to participate in the share buyback.
The government is targeting a minimum ₹ 5,000 crore through share buyback offers of state-owned firms such as Coal India, BHEL and Oil India Ltd.
Besides IOC, at least half a dozen other central public sector units have disclosed share buyback programmes. Prominent among these include NHPC, BHEL, NALCO, NLC, Cochin Shipyard and KIOCL that could fetch the government a little over ₹ 3,000 crore. The government is expected to participate in each of the share buyback programme of these PSUs.
IOC said its board has also declared an interim dividend of 67.5%, or ₹ 6.75 per share, for 2018-19. The total dividend payout, excluding tax will be ₹ 6,556 crore, of which the government will get ₹ 3,544 crore plus the dividend distribution tax.
“The public announcement setting out the process, timelines and other requisite details will be released in due course in accordance with the Buyback Regulations," IOC said.
For interim dividend, IOC said the record date will be 25 December and the money will be credited to the account of shareholders on or before December 31.
Last month, Oil India Ltd announced a buyback of 5.04 crore of its share for a little over ₹ 1,085 crore.
The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), which has been set a target to raise ₹ 80,000 crore for the government through stake sale in central public sector enterprises, had prodded all cash-rich PSUs to go for share buybacks. PSUs having a net worth of at least ₹ 2,000 crore and a cash balance of more than ₹ 1,000 crore have to mandatorily go in for share buyback.
Of the ₹ 80,000 crore disinvestment target, the government has so far raised just over ₹ 15,000 crore through minority stake sale in PSUs.
Indian Oil shares closed at ₹ 137.20, up 0.5% on the BSE.
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed
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