An Empowered Group of Ministers is likely to meet on November 29 to fix the price band for the forthcoming follow-on public offer of Shipping Corporation of India,a senior government official said today. "It will be done a day before (the opening). It is an FPO,so it requires just one day," Disinvestment Secretary Sumit Bose told reporters here in reply to a question on when the price band of SCI's FPO will be decided. "There will not be any anchor investor for the issue,as there is no need for it right now," he added. The Shipping Corporation FPO,which is expected to raise about Rs 1,300 crore,will open on November 30 and close on December 3. However,it will close a day early for institutional investors,on December 2. In October,the government had approved the sale of 10 per cent of its stake,or 42.35 million shares,in Shipping Corporation of India and also allowed the company to issue fresh equity to the tune of 10 per cent of the paid-up capital. Following the stake sale,the government's holding in the company will come down to 63.75 per cent from 80.12 per cent at present. The company plans to invest the money on expansion,including its proposed entry into the ports and terminal management business in a joint venture with a global company. It has already expressed interest in picking up a 10-15 per cent in leading shipbuilders in the country. Retail investors and employees will get 5 per cent discount on the issue price of shares under the largest domestic shipping liner's. A 0.5 per cent stake has also been reserved for employees under the proposed share sale. The company appointed SBI Caps,IDFC Capital and ICICI Securities as the Book Running Lead Managers for the issue in August. So far this fiscal,divestment in Coal India,Power Grid Corporation,Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam and Engineers India has fetched about Rs 21,000-22,000 crore for the government,Bose said. Shares of the company settled at Rs 147.05 apiece on the Bombay Stock Exchange today,down 4.51 per cent from the previous close.
