Sebi seeks clarification on RINL's IPO

Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India has sought clarification from the merchant banker of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd regarding the company's proposed initial public offer.

Without disclosing the details of clarifications sought from RINL, Sebi has said ‘clarifications (are) awaited from lead manager’ for the proposed public issue.

As per the latest weekly update to the processing status of draft offer documents, Sebi has said clarifications are awaited on the proposed IPO of RINL as on October 17, 2014.

However, it could not be ascertained whether the company has replied to Sebi's queries in the meantime.

Sebi said that it might issue observations on RINL's IPO document within 30 days from the date of receipt of satisfactory reply from the lead merchant bankers to the clarification or additional information sought from them.

The regulator had received the draft offer documents on September 19 through RINL's lead manager UBS Securities India Private Limited.

Under the proposed IPO, the government would offload 48,89,84,620 shares through an offer for sale, of which 35 per cent will be reserved for retail investors and 50 per cent for qualified institutional buyers.

A discount of up to 5 per cent on the Offer Price shall be offered to retail investors.

As per the Draft Red Herring Prospectus filed with Sebi, the government will sell 10 per cent of its stake in the company and the entire proceeds through the issue would go the exchequer.

The IPO of state-owned steel maker RINL is scheduled to hit the markets in the current fiscal, and the Cabinet has already accorded its approval for the stake sale.