BANDHAN BANK files IPO papers, to RAISE ₹2,500 Cr

KOLKATA: Private sector lender Bandhan Bank on Monday filed draft papers with markets regulator Sebi for its initial public offer (IPO) to raise an estimated amount of over Rs 2,500 crore.

Bandhan Bank on Monday said it has filed a Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for its proposed initial public offering (IPO).

The IPO consists of a fresh issue of up to 97,663,910 equity shares and an offer for sale of up to 14,050,780 equity shares by International Finance Corporation (IFC) and up to 7,565,804 equity shares by IFC FIG Investment Company.

The book running lead managers to the issue are Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Limited, Axis Capital Limited, Goldman Sachs (India) Securities Private Limited, JM Financial Institutional Securities Limited and J.P. Morgan India Private Limited.

"The Issue is being made through the book building process, in compliance with Regulation 26(1), the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2009, as amended, wherein not more than 50 per cent of the issue shall be allocated on a proportionate basis to qualified institutional buyers (QIBS), provided that the bank, in consultation with the book running lead managers and with intimation to the selling shareholders, may allocate up to 60 per cent of the QIB portion to anchor investors on a discretionary basis," the private lender said in a statement.

At least one-third of the anchor investor portion shall be reserved for domestic mutual funds, subject to valid bids being received from domestic mutual funds at or above anchor investor allocation price, the lender said.

In the event of under-subscription, or non-allocation in the anchor investor portion, the balance equity shares shall be added to the QIB portion.

Of the QIB portion, 5 per cent shall be available for allocation on a proportionate basis to mutual funds only, and the remaining QIB portion shall be available for allocation on a proportionate basis to all QIB bidders (other than anchor investors), including mutual funds, subject to valid bids being received at or above the issue price.

Further, not less than 15 per cent of the issue shall be available for allocation on a proportionate basis to non-institutional bidders and not less than 35 per cent of the issue shall be available for allocation to retail individual bidders in accordance with the regulations, subject to valid bids being received at or higher than issue price, the lender said. NEW DELHI: Putting branch rationalisation plan on fast track, Punjab National Bank (PNB) has placed 300 branches under watch and asked them to either shape up within a year or face closure or merger.

"That (rationalisation) exercise is going on. We have given notice to all loss-making branches that within one year they should turnaround otherwise we will look for options for their mergers or closure. We are working on 300 branches," PNB Managing Director Sunil Mehta said in an interview.

He, however, clarified that not all of them are loss- making, and some are marginally profit making.

"So, we are working on all those plans. If they are able to turnaround its okay otherwise we will have to close them down or merge," he said.

The country's second largest public sector lender has about 7,000 branches across the country.

The branch rationalisation proposal was discussed at the 'PSB Manthan' organised by the Finance Ministry last month.

As far as overseas branches are concerned, Mehta said, the bank has taken decision to close down representative offices in Australia and China.

At present, PNB has its overseas presence in nine countries by way of four branches (2 Hong Kong, 1 Dubai and 1 Obu-mumbai), two subsidiaries (London and Bhutan), one Associate (Kazakhstan), one joint venture (Nepal) and four Representative Offices (Sydney Australia, Shanghai- China, Dhaka-bangladesh and Dubai-uae).

Asked if the bank aims at divesting some of stakes in its the UK subsidiary, Mehta said, the bank has been able to convert PNB International into a profit making centre now.

"We have an opportunity to disinvest in it but right now it has just turnaround. We would like to stabilise it first then only we will unlock the value. We will get better value then," he said.