Government to Sell 5% Stake in Dredging Corporation on August 21

New Delhi: The government will sell 5 per cent of its stake in the country's largest dredging company, Dredging Corporation of India (DCI), a move that will fetch up to Rs 57 crore to its kitty.

The government will sell up to 14 lakh shares of face value of Rs 10 each, representing 5 per cent of the total paid up equity share capital of the company, through Offer for Sale, DCI said in a filing to the BSE.

"The offer shall take place during trading hours on a separate window of the Stock Exchanges and shall commence on August 21, 2015 at 9:15 am and shall close on the same date at 3:30 pm," the filing said.

At Wednesday's closing price of Rs 406.60, the stake sale will fetch up to Rs 57 crore to the government.

The filing said the allocation shall be at or above the floor price and "a minimum of 10 per cent of the size of the offer shall be reserved for retail investors subject to the receipt of valid bids. The stock exchanges will decide the quantity of shares eligible to be considered in the retail category, based on the floor price."

It added that no single bidder other than mutual funds and insurance companies shall be allocated more than 25 per cent of the offer shares.

Headquartered at Visakhapatnam, DCI helps ensure the continuous availability of the desired depths in shipping channels of the major and minor ports, navy, fishing harbours and other maritime organisations.

The government is targeting to raise Rs 69,500 crore from disinvestment in the current fiscal. So far, due to volatile market conditions, it has been able to sell stakes only in two PSUs to raise over Rs 3,000 crore

Shares of the company closed at Rs 406.60 a scrip on the BSE on Wednesday, up 0.07 per cent from the previous close.