Avoiding questions on his tough talk to those he said were identified as market manipulators, Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie was a pleased man today calling the offers for sale of equity in the five PSUs, including that of IBP and Gail, a success.Talking to reporters after a series of meetings with officials on the IPOs, Shourie said: ‘‘On the very first day, the Gail issue has been subscribed 107 per cent despite earlier scepticism.We will get the targeted figures (for disinvestment at Rs 14,500 crore for 03-04) that the Finance Minister had indicated.’’Asked about his message to the market players—he had said on Thursday that merchant bankers have a contractual obligation to meet the government’s ‘‘financial expectations’’—Shourie said: ‘‘The response is so good why talk about things of the past.’’On Thursday, Shourie had a meeting with the Intelligence Bureau director fuelling speculation over how the government was defining its role in the market.Shourie said the offer for residual equity shares in IPCL was oversubscribed three times and a meeting for allocation of shares would take place on Saturday. CMC was oversubscribed five times and IBP 1.5 times, he said, adding that Dredging Corporation of India was also fully subscribed and by the close of the day, bids totalling 1.5-1.6 times would be received.Asked about allocation, Shourie said, “It would be our effort to give preference to retail investors but there would be other factors also.In Gail and ONGC, early investors factor is weighing on our mind.’’The government has set a floor price of Rs 170 per share for sale of 24 per cent equity in IPCL while Rs 475 per share has been stipulated for CMC where it selling 26 per cent. In case of IBP, floor price has been fixed at Rs 620 and for Gail at Rs 185. In case of Dredging Corporation of India a price band of Rs 385-400 has been mandated. ONGC, where government is selling 10 per cent stake, would hit the markets on March 5.
