Offer for Sale
(OFS)
overview

Offer for sale (OFS) enables stakeholders of a company to sell their shareholdings. OFS is a relatively new mechanism, where sellers use a separate one day window provided by Stock exchanges for selling the stake. The government of India is using the OFS option to offload its shares in public sector companies Under its disinvestment programme.

Who Can Participant in Offer for Sale

Below market participate can bid on the OFS process

Participants of derivatives trading in India can be categorized under three groups:

  • Retail investor
  • Mutual Fund 
  • Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIS) 
  • Insurance companies 
  • Corporate 
  • HUF 
  • Other Qualified institutional Bidders 
Who is a Retail Investor?

Investors investing up to Rs. 2 lakh in an OFS are considered retail investors.

An investor applying in the OFS, must pay the entire application amount upfront, and should place the bid during market hours and state the quantity and the floor price.

The allocation is on a price priority basis. Those who bid with a higher amount will have a greater chance of getting an allotment.

Shareholders or promoters having 10% of the share capital in the company can offer shares through OFS. 25% of the offering is the maximum share allocation to the individual bidder. The shares are get allotted in T+1 day and the stocks are offered at a discounted price compared to the secondary market.

Offer for Sale application process

As an individual investor, you can apply under the retail category. The OFS bid limit should not exceed ₹2 Lac. By any means, if the bid limit exceeds ₹2 Lac, the investment will be categorized under the Non-institutional Investor (NII) category instead of retail.

To invest in OFS, an investor will require

  • DEMAT Account
  • Trading Account 
There are certain OFS rules and regulations to look after
  • The top 200 companies are available for OFS in the stock market. These 200 companies are ranked based on the market cap.
  • 10% of the OFS shares are reserved for retail investors. 
  • 25% of the OFS shares are reserved for mutual funds and insurance companies.
  • Shareholders with above 10% capital are eligible to offer shares via OFS such as UTI, Mutual funds, Banks, Financial institutions, etc. 
Advantage of OFS over traditional Follow-On Public Offer
  • System based bidding platform
  • Quick bidding process 
  • Convenient
How to Buy an OFS?

The company gives a band within which OFS bids should make. The investor can offer any price within the band or indicate that they are ready to offer to buy at an average price provided by all other bidders. Once the OFS bids are placed, shares get allocated to the buyers. OFS does not have any share limit to participate, which means a bidder can bid in the OFS even for a single share.