Govt may appoint 6-7 merchant bankers to manage CIL stake sale

A final decision on the same will be taken shortly,the official added.

In 2010,six merchant bankers- Citibank,Deutsche Bank,DSP Merill Lynch,Morgan Stanley,Enam Securities and Kotak Securities- were appointed to act as Book Running Lead Managers BRLMs for Coal India Initial Public Offer IPO.

An Inter-ministerial Group IMG has already approved 10 per cent equity sale in the PSU firm.

At present,the government holds 90 per cent stake in Coal India Ltd CIL.

However,the mode of disinvestment of the PSU could not be decided 8211; whether the share sale would be through Offer For Sale OFS or buyback,and would be done taking into consideration the market conditions.

The IMG,headed by Disinvestment Secretary Ravi Mathur,is guiding the process of disinvestment of government8217;s equity in CIL.

The panel has members drawn from Ministry of Coal,Departments of Legal Affairs,Economic Affairs and Corporate Affairs and the Chairman-cum-Managing Director of CIL.

Coal India,which has a cash balance of about Rs 60,000 crore,will be the biggest disinvestment in the 2013-14 fiscal.

The government plans to raise Rs 40,000 crore by way of PSU stake sale this fiscal.

CIL got listed on the bourses in 2010 through an initial public offering where the government raised Rs 15,199 crore by selling 10 per cent stake.

The shares of CIL were trading at Rs 304.50 a piece on the BSE in the afternoon trade.