State-owned insurer Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) came to government's rescue during the share sale of steel major Steel Authority of India (SAIL) by acquiring 70.57 percent of the total offer.
This amounts to around Rs.1,069 crore, of the total Rs.1,517 crore which the government raised by divesting 24.04 crore shares or 5.82 percent of its stake in SAIL through the offer for sale (OFS) route.
LIC, which had 5.023 percent stake in SAIL, had bought additional 169,644.182 equity shares of Rs.10 each or 4.107 percent voting rights of SAIL through the OFS.
With the mega purchase, LIC has helped the government come close to its revised target of raising Rs.24,000 crore through disinvestment this fiscal, ending March 31.
This is not the first time that LIC had rescued the government in achieving the disinvestment target. During the last fiscal, the state-owned insurer had pumped in close to Rs.12,000 crore during the concluding minutes of government's Rs.12,750 crore equity sale in ONGC.
It has also acquired shares worth over Rs.2,000 crore during the stake sale in NMDC, NTPC, Hindustan Copper, Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers, Nalco and Oil India during the current fiscal.
LIC has been the single largest buyer of shares sold by the government in most of these companies.
For 2012-13, the disinvestment proceeds has been around Rs.23,920 crore, the highest ever realization in a single year on this account.
At the BSE, Steel Authority of India closed Tuesday's trading at Rs.61, down 3.17 percent from the previous close.
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