Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- India's IFCI Ltd. will today announce the sale of a 26 percent stake to a group of investors led by Morgan Stanley and Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd., the Economic Times reported, citing banking secretary Vinod Rai.

Shares of IFCI had their biggest drop in a month after the company said Dec. 17 it couldn't reach a decision on the three bids it had received. Seven investors including Blackstone Group LP, billionaire Wilbur Ross and General Electric Capital Corp. had dropped out of the race.

Rai said the stake sale will be announced today and the bid price was not an issue, the newspaper reported.

Morgan Stanley and Sterlite are leading the race for the stake with a minimum bid of 107 rupees a share, the Economic Times reported yesterday. IFCI shares fell 6.7 percent to 101.1 rupees ($2.5) on the Bombay Stock Exchange yesterday.

To contact the reporters on this story: Cherian Thomas in New Delhi at cthomas1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 18, 2007 21:16 EST