The much-awaited public offering of shares for Maruti Udyog will hit the market by early June this year, the company's managing director Jagdish Khattar told reporters in New Delhi on Thursday.
Khattar said the car major had already responded to queries raised by capital market regulator on the prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India.
He said the government would divest 7.2 crores (72 million) shares at a face value of rupees five each, adding that the price would be determined based on book building route.
Asked about the road shows to be held for the upcoming issue, Khattar said a decision would be taken next week on where to hold the shows.
The government proposes to divest 25 per cent stake in the car giant thereby diluting its stake to 20 per cent which would be followed by a second tranche of public offering leading to government's exit from the company.
Last year, the government ceded control to its joint venture partner Suzuki through a rights issue of Rs 400 crore (Rs 4 billion) for a control premium of Rs 1000 crore (Rs 10 billion). Japanese partner has already agreed to underwrite the issue at Rs 2300 per share.
When queried over MUL's plans to enter new market segments, he said the company felt the market was in the small car segment with a price range of less than Rs 400,000-500,000.
As far as exports of Alto were concerned, he said talks were on to explore possibilities of entering Middle East markets particularly Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries.