The SAIL board has finalised the Red Herring Prospectus (RHP) for its forthcoming follow-on-public offer (FPO), but has not decided the date of launch of the issue.

“The timing of the issue will be decided after assessing the market conditions,” said Mr C.S. Verma, CEO, SAIL, after the board meet on Monday.

Announcing the company's results for fiscal 2011 last month, Mr Verma had indicated that the FPO would happen during last week of May or early June. The Government, which owns 85.82 per cent stake, expects to dilute 5 per cent as part of the public offer, while a fresh equity of 5 per cent would be issued by the company.

As part of its disinvestment target for the current fiscal, the Government expects to raise about Rs 40,000 crore by divesting stakes in companies such as SAIL and ONGC.

SAIL stock hit a 52-week low on the BSE on Monday at Rs 139.05 during intraday trade, before recovering to close at Rs 142.35, a loss of 0.21 per cent over previous close. The BSE Sensex shed 1.82 per cent to close at 17,993 on Monday.

SAIL had reported a 28 per cent drop in net profits at Rs 1,507 crore for the quarter-ended March 2011, on account of increased input costs such as coking coal.

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