Will launch FPO in third or fourth week of January: IOC

State-owned Indian Oil Corporation on Friday said that it expects to launch its follow-on public offer in the third or fourth week of January.

State-owned Indian Oil Corporation on Friday said that it expects to launch its follow-on public offer in the third or fourth week of January.

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"IOC's follow-on public offer (FPO) would be expected in the third or fourth week of January," Chairman B M Bansal told reporters in New Delhi.

The government plans to offload 10% of its equity holding in the state-run refiner through the FPO and an equal stake would be diluted by the PSU company. Following the stake sale, the government's holding in IOC would reduce to 64.57% from the existing 78.92%.

IOC's share sale programme is expected to garner close to Rs 20,000 crore.

The company said that it has hired six investment banks - Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, ICICI Securities, Morgan Stanley, SBI Capital and UBS to manage the public offer.

The mega offer is a part of the government's Rs 40,000 crore disinvestment programme this fiscal.

Under the follow-on public offer, the government will divest a 10% stake in the company, translating into 24.27 crore equity shares. In addition, the company would also issue fresh equity equivalent to another 10% stake in the company, amounting to 19 crore shares.

Apart from IOC, the government has lined up stake sales in Hindustan Copper, Manganese Ore India Ltd and SAIL, among other PSUs, this fiscal.