Govt to sale remaining 29.5% stake in Hindustan Zinc
Highlights
- HZL was a government-owned company till 2002
- In 2002, govt offloaded 26% stake to Sterlite Opportunities and Ventures
- A year later, another 18.92% was bought by Sterlite Opportunities
Hindustan Zinc Government Stake Sale, Hindustan Zinc Latest News: The government has announced that it will sale its residual stake in Hindustan Zinc Limited. The decision to offload its 26 per cent shareholding was approved by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday.
At the current price, the sale of a 29.5 per cent stake representing over 124.96 crore shares will fetch around Rs 38,000 crore.
HZL was a government-owned company till 2002. In April 2002, the government offloaded a 26 per cent stake in HZL to Sterlite Opportunities and Ventures Ltd (SOVL) for Rs 445 crore -- thereby giving Vedanta group management control in HZL. A year later, another 18.92 per cent was bought by the mining conglomerate. In the two transactions, the government got around Rs 769 crore.
The decision to divest the remaining 29.58 per cent stake would give a push to the government's disinvestment drive in the current fiscal. The government has budgeted Rs 65,000 crore from PSU disinvestments and strategic sales. It has already got a little over Rs 20,500 crore from sale of its 3.5 per cent stake in Life Insurance Corporation (LIC).
Hindustan Zinc disinvestment decision was taken up after privatisation of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) got stalled following two of the three bidders walking out of the contest. Other strategic disinvestments such as Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) are facing procedural delays.
