35 parties to bid for Govt stake in MUL

New Delhi: In a race to buy Maruti stake, 35 bidders will compete for 10.27 per cent stake in the company. The bidders include banks, MFs and financial institutions. The EGoM will finalise stake sale to the bidder on Thursday.

The total book size constitutes 2.9 crore shares and there is demand for 3.59 crore shares.

The highest bid came from Corporation Bank, followed by LIC, which offered Rs 850 a share for one crore shares, he said. Maruti's share closed at Rs 802.85 on BSE, up by 0.30 per cent from yesterday's close.

PTI quoted sources saying the bids were to be opened on Tuesday, but it was deferred for Wednesday as Heavy Industry Minister Santosh Mohan Deb, whose ministry holds the stake, was away in Guwahati. Deb accompanied Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is filing his nomination from Assam for Rajya Sabha.

The Government had invited Expressions of Interest for the stake in February, but deferred selling due to volatility in stock markets. The other reason for the delay was that the government was awaiting Suzuki's nod on whether LIC could be allowed to increase its holding beyond 10 per cent.

With Suzuki giving the go ahead, LIC would be able to participate in the sale aggressively.

Last year, LIC acquired over 8 per cent stake when it picked more than half of the shares sold by the government, which had then put a condition that no financial institution would be allowed to increase its stake beyond 10 per cent through participation in the disinvestment process.