Following the Finance Minister’s announcement in Budget 2009 to undertake disinvestments, the Government has now announced stake sales in 25 public sector companies through public offers. Its zeal to ensure the success of these public floats of shares is evidenced by a proposal to grant significant powers to the Department of Disinvestment. The truth, however, is that disinvestments tend to be a complex exercise, which is borne out by the fact that legal issues emerging from the previous round of disinvestments initiated a few years ago yet remain unresolved (although those pertain to stake sale in favour of strategic partner rather than a public offer of shares – here and here).
