Hindustan Zinc rallies 7% on govt stake sale buzz – Economic Times

NEW DELHI: Shares of Hindustan Zinc surged 7 per cent on Wednesday after media reports suggested the Cabinet has approved stake sale in the company.

ET Now, citing sources, said the government will sell its entire stake in Hindustan Zinc. It holds 29.54 per cent of the zinc producer. The stake is valued at Rs 39,385.66 crore as of today.

Following the report, the stock climbed 6.81 per cent to Rs 315.90.

Hindustan Zinc was a majority government-owned company. The government had offloaded 26 per cent stake in the firm in 2002, which was bought by Vedanta Group. The Group later acquired further stake in the company to take its holding to 64.92 per cent.

The current round of selling is part of the government’s divestment objectives for the financial year. The idea is also to offload a stake in ITC, where it holds a 7.91 per cent stake. Details of an offer for sale (OFS) and the extent of divestment are still being worked out. The government expects the process to be completed by September, an ET report said earlier.
The delay in the strategic sale of Pawan Hans, Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), IDBI Bank, and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), and the scaled-down public offer of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India have forced the government to consider other options.

The government has pegged the disinvestment target for FY23 at Rs 65,000 crore. LIC’s public offer raised about Rs 20,560 crore earlier this month.