Mumbai/Kolkata, Jan 30 (IANS): The 10 percent stake sale in state-owned coal behemoth Coal India Ltd (CIL) fetched the government Rs.22,745 crore as a total issue of 63.16 crore shares went for the auction Friday.

Featuring as the biggest disinvestment exercise as well as the biggest sale ever from any private or public holding, the average bid price was higher by Rs.2.11 at Rs. 360.11 against the floor price of Rs. 358 declared Thursday by the government.

The government had expected to get at least Rs.22,600 crore at the floor price of Rs.358 per share declared Thursday.

The disinvestment move drew much enthusiasm as data from the Bombay Stock Exchange showed the issue got over-subscribed before the closure of market hours

According to the data, the total issue of 63.16 crore shares put up for auction was oversubscribed by 1.05 times as bids were received for 66.20 crore shares.

While the general category investors spanning mutual funds, banks and insurance companies bid 1.2 times the shares reserved for them, retail bidding for 12.63 crore shares could attract bids for only 5.37 crore units.

The government had reserved 20 percent of the shares for bidding from retail investors - a hike of 10 percent from its previous reservation in the disinvestment in SAIL. Also, a minimum 25 percent of the issue size was reserved for insurance and mutual funds companies.

It had issued 31.58 crore shares comprising 5 percent of the total holding in CIL for auction Friday and kept another 5 percent holding under the greenshoe option whereby the government could sell additional stakes if there is enough demand.