Government to sell up to 20% stake in IRCTC via OFS; Sets floor price at Rs 1,367/share

Government of India, the promoter of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC), has proposed selling up to 2.40 crore shares in IRCTC, representing 15 per cent of the paid-up equity share of the company through an offer for sale (OFS) route. It has also proposed to sell an additional share of 0.8 crore shares, representing 5 per cent of the paid-up equity share capital in the event of oversubscription.

Combined, the base offer size and oversubscription option represent 20% of outstanding equity shares of the company or 3.2 crore shares.

The IRCTC share sale will take place on a separate window of the stock exchanges on December 10 and December 11. Only retail investors shall be allowed to place there on December 11.

In a regulatory filing, IRCTC has said, "The government proposes to sell up to 2,40,00,000 Equity Shares of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd, representing 15 per cent of the total issued and paid-up equity share capital of the Company ("Base Offer Size"), on December 10, 2020, ("T day") (for non-Retail Investors only) and on December 11, 2020 ("T+1 day") (for Retail Investors and for non-Retail Investors who choose to carry forward their un-allotted bids) with an option to additionally sell 80,00,000 Equity Shares (representing 5% of the total issued and paid-up equity share capital of the Company) (the "Oversubscription Option" and in the event that the Oversubscription Option is exercised."

The floor price for the offer shall be Rs 1367 per share. The price under the offer of sale route is at a 16% discount to today's closing price.

As of September 30, the government had held 87.40 stakes in IRCTC which went public last year.

IRCTC shares had hit a 52-week high of Rs 1,995 in February this year before falling to Rs 774.85 in March amid the pandemic-induced selloff in equity markets.

IRCTC had reported a 67.3 per cent slump in the net profit to Rs 32.63 crore for its second quarter ending September 30, 2020, as compared to Rs 99.82 crore, a year ago. The company's revenue from operations during the quarter fell 83 per cent to Rs 88 crore compared to Rs 533 crore in the same quarter in the financial year 2019-20.