Coal India shares plunge as Centre likely to offload stake via OFS on Thursday

After sources told CNBC-TV18 on May 31 that the centre is likely to sell a stake in India's largest coal miner Coal India Limited (CIL) through an offer for sale (OFS) on the BSE and NSE on Thursday (June 1), Coal India shares fell by 1.29% on the BSE during Wednesday's closing session. The estimated value of OFS is about ₹4,000 crore, and the floor price has been set at ₹225 per share, which represents a discount of around 7% from Wednesday's closing price of ₹241.2.

According to an older report by Bloomberg in November 2022, the government was planning on selling 5 to 10 percent of its stake in CIL, Hindustan Zinc, and Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF) in order to stimulate the stock market and increase revenue in Q4FY23.

Currently, the central government owns 66.13 percent stake of the PSU, while the general public owns 33.17 percent. In the fourth quarter of FY23, Coal India reported shareholdings from its promoters of 66.13%, FIIs of 7.84%, DIIs of 21.05%, the government of 0.09%, and the general public of 4.90%. 

Commenting on the offload stake announcement of Coal India, A R Ramachandran, Co-founder & Trainer-Tips2trades said “The current OFS has been timed perfectly from the governments' perspective as Coal India stock price is overbought on the Daily charts and a price correction is due. Investors looking for short term returns can subscribe at the above mentioned floor price for target of 256.”

The shares of Coal India closed today on the BSE at ₹241.20 apiece down by 1.29% from the previous close of ₹244.35. The stock touched a 52-week-high of ₹263.30 on (09/11/2022) and a 52-week-low of ₹174.60 on (20/06/2022).