Axis Bank board to meet on Nov 10, decide on raising equity

The board of Axis Bank will meet on November 10 to consider a proposal to raise equity capital by issuing securities.

The board will meet in Mumbai to consider issuing equity or equity-linked securities through a permissible mode at an appropriate time, Axis Bank informed the BSE.

Its stock closed 1.2 per cent down at ~527 per share on the BSE. Its promoters – LIC, Suuti and a clutch of state- owned insurance companies – hold a 30.5 per cent stake. Foreign portfolio investors have a 49.13 per cent stake. Mutual funds held an 8.4 per cent stake at the end of September.

The market is abuzz that Bain Capital and other investors are in talks with the private lender to pick up a 5 per cent stake.

In a communication to the BSE the bank said it continues to explore various means to raise capital and funds through issuance of securities to a diverse set of investors to meet business and regulatory requirements.

The bank has maintained that its capital position is healthy in spite of the higher provisions in the second quarter (Q2) ended September 2017. The capital adequacy ratio stood at 16.32 per cent, with a Tier 1 of 12.36 per cent and a Common Equity Tier-1 (CET-1) of 10.95 per cent at end of September 2017.

In a conference call with analysts after Q2 results, the bank said it would want to be at least 150 basis points above regulatory requirement. On CET-1, the regulatory requirement is about 8.8 per cent.