Axis Bank stake sale: Govt aims to fetch Rs 5,316 cr

The government will sell part of its stake in Axis Bank held through SUUTI to raise up to Rs 5,316 crore starting Tuesday, according to a filing. The offer for sale of up to three per cent would be for two days from February 12 and is part of the government's disinvestment programme through which it aims to raise Rs 80,000 crore in the current fiscal.

"The Specified Undertaking of the United Trust of India (seller) proposes to sell up to 50,759,949 (1.98 per cent) equity shares of Axis Bank (base offer size) on February 12, 2019," Axis Bank said. The floor price for the offer has been fixed at Rs 689.52 per share. It is lower than the Monday closing price of Rs 710.35 apiece on the BSE.

Shares held by SUUTI, a promoter entity of Axis Bank, would be offloaded through the sale. The sale would be open for non-retail investors on Tuesday and retail investors can put in their bids on Wednesday. 0As per the filing, the government would also have the option to sell an additional 26,337,187 shares or 1.02 per cent stake in case of over subscription.

SUUTI, which was created to take over part of the assets and liabilities of the now defunct Unit Trust of India (UTI), owned 9.56 per cent stake in Axis Bank at the end of December 2018. In the 10 months of the current fiscal, Rs 36,000 crore has been raised through stake sale in CPSEs, as well as through tranches of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and share buybacks.