New Delhi: The government may consider selling stake held by the Specified Undertaking of Unit Trust of India in Axis Bank and ITC in the next few months, a senior finance ministry official said. “Selling stake in Axis Bank and ITC is something which is on our radar. Whenever there is an opportune moment, we can sell them through bulk or block deals,” the official said. However, the official declined to commit whether the sale would happen in the current financial year ending Mar 31. A bulk deal is a deal in which more than 0.5 per cent of the total number of shares of a listed company are sold or bought by a single investor in the open market. In a block deal, two parties make a transaction involving shares worth at least Rs 5 crore. Block deal transactions are conducted in a separate trading window.
The government set up SUUTI in 2003 by taking over assets of the erstwhile Unit 64 Scheme of the Unit Trust of India. SUUTI holds shares in ITC, Axis Bank and L&T. As on Sep 30, SUUTI held around 9.63 per cent stake in Axis Bank, 7.97 per cent in ITC and 1.80 per cent in L&T. Apart from bulk/block deals, the government is also looking at offloading stake in the two companies through further fund offer of Bharat 22 exchange-traded fund. Last month it was reported that the government was planning to raise up to Rs 10,000 crore through next tranche of Bharat 22 exchange-traded fund by February end. ITC, Axis Bank and Larsen & Toubro shares are part of Bharat 22 exchange-traded fund. The government also plans to offer around 50 lakh shares of L&T in the company’s proposed buyback plan. The government, which has set a divestment target of Rs 80,000 crore for 2018-19, has so far raised Rs 34,142 crore. It had raised a record Rs 1 lakh crore from divestment in 2017-18.
