What has a music streaming company in distant Sweden got to do with stolid(सुस्त/आवेगहीन) public sector undertakings in India? Quite a bit. Spotify offers a good way to carry out disinvestment(विनिवेश/लगाया गया पैसा वापस लेना) in PSUs, without spending money on merchant banking fees and roadshows. Spottily listed on the New York Stock Exchange earlier this month in a process called direct listing. On February 28, it filed for direct listing, and on April 4, its stock started trading on NYSE, without being underwritten by any merchant bank, with no institutional(संस्थागत) investor(निवेशक) anchoring(लंगर डालना) the stock to prevent(प्रतिबंध करना) excessive volatility(परिवर्तनशीलता), with no price bands fixed by merchant banks that forced buyers to bid at a price within the band—and without any catastrophe(दुर्घटना/आपदा).
There is every reason for the Government of India, which has set itself a target of Rs 80,000 crore for disinvestment proceeds in the current fiscal(वित्तीय), to experiment with this method of selling its stake to the public, in some pilot offerings.The government should make two things clear at the outset: whether the company whose shares are being offered to the public is set for privatisation(निजीकरण), and if so, by when that process would be complete.Armed with this information, a market for corporate control can function on the stock market, with potential(क्षमता) acquirers(अधिग्रहणकर्ता) and those who wish to corner shares in order to sell on to potential acquirers buying the stock at prices they deem appropriate(उचित/यथोचित), given the company’s current performance and potential.Spotify’s shares today trade at a premium to both the prices at which pre-listing trades took place among shareholders and the opening day close. Even in the case of companies that the government does not propose to privatise, direct listing can serve as a useful way to disinvest. Direct listing for disinvestment is worth a try.
Important Vocabulary
1.Stolid(सुस्त/आवेगहीन)
Synonyms: impassive, blunt, bovine, dense, doltish
Antonyms: aware, intelligent, interested
2.Volatility(परिवर्तनशीलता),
Synonyms: dryness, vaporization, vaporousness
3.Acquirers(अधिग्रहणकर्ता)
Synonyms: acquirer, appropriator, claimant, discoverer, spotter
Antonyms: loser, owner, stray
4.Appropriate(उचित/यथोचित)
Synonyms: applicable, apt, convenient, correct, fitting
Antonyms: evil, improper, inappropriate, incorrect, inopportune
5.Prevent(प्रतिबंध करना)
Synonyms: avert, avoid, bar, block, counter
Antonyms: advance, aid, allow, approve, assist
