Friday, September 15 2006 16:29 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Power Ministry will shortly seek fresh approval from the Union Cabinet for the initial public offer of Power Finance Corporation, Power Secretary R V Shahi said today (Sept 15, 2006).

"We will go to the Cabinet soon with a proposal for PFC that will have only IPO," he told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar here.

"The new proposal would be for issuing 10 per cent new equity by the state-run company," he said, but did not give any timeframe for approaching the Cabinet.

The fresh approval was necessitated as the earlier Cabinet nod was for 10 per cent additional equity through IPO along with sale of five per cent government equity. But with government putting on hold all disinvestment cases due to opposition from supporting Left parties and DMK, the company could not proceed with the issue.

The Prime Minister's Office had earlier asked Power Ministry not to go ahead with the sale of government shares and come up with a fresh proposal for the IPO.

The Ministry would now have to draft a new Cabinet note for the IPO to raise its equity base by 10 per cent, which amounts to 10.3 crore shares.

The company had initially filed the draft prospectus with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India on June 7. PFC was earlier offering 15.45 crore equity shares of Rs 10 each. This included 10.304 crore new equity shares and an offer for sale of 5.15 crore shares by the government.