NTPC staff OFS subscribed 85%; Govt nets Rs 202 crore

 "The Employee Offer of NTPC Ltd got an unprecedented response as over 10,800 employees participated in the offer and applied for approximately 1,74,50,000 shares being 85 per cent of 2,06,13,661 shares offered for allotment," NTPC said in a statement on Tuesday.

On pan India basis, employees from over 100 locations participated in the offer. This is the highest ever employee participation in disinvestment process of any company post OFS (offer for sale) and demonstrates the faith reposed by the employees in their company, it said. The company further said that the government expects to realise around Rs 202 crore from the above Employee OFS.

Pursuant to the successful 5 per cent stake sale by Government of India under OFS mechanism on February 24, 2016, and transfer of proceeds of Rs 5,014.55 crore, a total of 2,06,13,661 equity shares were offered to eligible employees of the company. It said that the lowest cut off during the OFS was Rs 122 per equity share. Accordingly, after 5 per cent discount to the OFS offer price, employees were offered shares at a price of Rs 115.90 per share.

Subsequent to cooling-off period of 12 weeks post disinvestment by Government of India, the Employee Offer for Sale of Shares was opened on June 27, 2016 and closed today, it added. NTPC's shares closed at Rs 152.60 per piece, down 1.86 per cent on BSE.

Meanwhile, Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) on Tuesday said that though electricity sales on its platform rose 7 per cent in June, the average power price remained at Rs 2.31 per unit in the month as against Rs 2.32 in May. 

"A total of 3,147 MUs (million units) were traded this month (June), an increase of about 7 per cent over 2,929 MUs traded in May 2016, with average daily purchase bids of 5,118 MW and average daily sell bids of 8,200 MW. Last month, average daily purchase bids of 4,603 MW and sell bids of 7,710 MW were received," IEX said in a release.

Although the volume traded this month increased by 7 per cent, the price continued to be Rs 2.31 per unit, at par with MCP (market clearing price) of Rs 2.32 per unit in May 2016, it said. 

With easing of transmission congestion, the average area clearing price (ACP) — the price at which settlement takes place — varied from Rs 2.23 to Rs 2.61 across regions during the month. Both northern and southern states saw reduction in ACP over May.

ACP in North India was Rs 2.61 per unit in June, a 4 per cent decline over May. The figure for South was Rs 2.35 per unit, down 15 per cent over May. Similarly, ACP in the North-East, East and West was Rs 2.23, up 8 per cent over May.

 IEX said about 3 MUs were lost per day due to congestion. As many as 1,028 participants traded in the spot market on an average daily basis. The highest participation was on June 2, when 1,136 participants traded on the exchange.