Citi, HSBC Among Banks to Manage $3b ONGC Share Sale

Citigroup and HSBC are among five banks chosen to manage India's planned sale of a stake in state oil company Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), three sources with direct knowledge of the development said on Monday.

UBS and Indian investment banks Kotak Investment Banking and ICICI Securities have also been mandated by the Indian finance ministry's disinvestment department, the sources told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The sale is planned to be launched during the three months to December, the sources said, with one of the sources saying that investor roadshows could start in mid-September.

The Indian government, which has a 68.94 percent stake in ONGC, is considering selling a 5 percent stake, worth about $3 billion at the current market price.

If completed, the sale could raise more than a quarter of the $10.5 billion target for asset sales this financial year announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to help to bridge India's budget deficit.

(Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy and Sumeet Chatterjee; Editing by David Goodman)