SBI launches share sale to raise Rs 11,000 crore

SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya addresses a press conference to announce last quarter of 2016-17 fiscal. Image Source: IANS

Country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) today opened share sale through private placement at Rs 287.58 apiece to raise Rs 11,000 crore.

This is part of plans to garner Rs 15,000 crore capital from markets in the current fiscal.

In a regulatory filing, the bank said it has opened 'qualified institutional placement' (QIP) of equity shares of face value of Re 1 to qualified institutional buyers.

"The floor price in respect of the issue, based on the pricing formula of SEBI, is Rs 287.58 per equity share of the bank and the relevant date for this purpose...Is June 5, 2017," the filing said.

It further said the bank may offer a discount of not more than 5 per cent to the floor price.

The total proceeds of the issue will be used to augment its capital adequacy ratio and for general corporate purposes, in accordance with applicable law, it said.

The QIP announcement comes at a time when PSU banks are in need of huge capital to clean up their balance sheet and meet global risk norm Basel III by 2019.

Raising funds from the market will ease the pressure on the exchequer of pumping in capital. As per the Indradhanush plan, public sector banks need to raise Rs 1.10 lakh crore from markets, including follow-on public offer, to meet Basel-III requirements, which will kick in from March 2019.

SBI has appointed six merchant bankers to manage the issue and the meeting of the committee of directors will be held on June 8 to consider and approve the issue price of the equity shares proposed to be issued pursuant to the QIP.

The merchant bankers are Kotak Investment Banking, SBI Caps, DSP Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Equitiues India, IIFL Holding and J M Financial Institutional Securities.

SBI Caps and IIFL Holding will only be involved in marketing of the issue.

According to sources, SBI plans to raise Rs 11,000 crore through this QIP.

In March, the central board of SBI at its meeting had approved raising of equity capital up to Rs 15,000 crore during fiscal year 2017-18.

The board had permitted the bank to raise funds by way of Follow on Public Offer (FPO) or rights issue or QIP or American Depository Receipt (ADR) or Global Depository Receipt (GDR) or employee stock options.

In 2014, SBI has raised Rs 8,032 crore by selling shares through qualified institutional placement (QIP), largely aided by state-owned life insurer LIC.

The bank had sold 5.13 crore shares at an average price of Rs 1,565, which was the lower side of the price band it had set.

Post-equity allotment, the government stake came down to 58.6 per cent, from over 62 per cent.

The bank's stock closed at Rs 287.35, down 0.02 per cent, on BSE.

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