Goldman, 5 others shortlisted for NTPC share sale

Six banks, including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley, had been shortlisted for the Rs 13,000-crore (Rs 130 billion) offer-for-sale of NTPC shares, three sources with direct knowledge of the issue said.

Others shortlisted by the Department of Disinvestment for the NTPC offer were Deutsche Bank, SBI Capital Markets and Kotak Mahindra Capital, the sources on Sunday said, declining to be identified because they were not authorised to speak to the media before an official announcement.

The Cabinet had approved a 9.5 per cent stake sale in NTPC in November to help rein in its ballooning fiscal deficit. At the current market price, the sale could raise as much as Rs 13,000 crore for the exchequer.

The NTPC stake sale was likely to be completed by the end of this month, two of the sources said. The government has been heavily banking on its disinvestment programmed to narrow the widening fiscal deficit, a major weakness that has triggered repeated warnings of a credit downgrade from global ratings agencies. It has set a target of raising Rs 30,000 crore (Rs 300 billion) from stake sale in state-run companies in this financial year.