NEW DELHI: Kerala-based Catholic Syrian Bank on Monday said that it had filed a draft prospectus for its planned initial public offer (IPO) with markets regulator Securities and Exchanges Board of India (SEBI).
According to an official statement, the private sector lender is planning to raise fresh capital by issuing shares worth Rs 30 crore, besides an offer for sale of 1.98 crore shares by existing shareholders.
“The net proceeds from the fresh issue are proposed to be utilised towards augmenting the bank’s tier-1 capital base to meet future capital requirements which are expected to arise out of growth in our bank’s assets, primarily our bank’s loans/advances and investment portfolio, and to ensure compliance with Basel III and other RBI guidelines,” it said, adding that the bank’s shares will be listed on both the BSE and NSE.
Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa currently owns a controlling stake in the bank which posted a loss of Rs 197.4 crore in financial year 2018-19. Last year, Watsa’s Fairfax India Holdings Corporation had acquired a 51 per cent stake in the lender for around Rs 440 crore, following which the Reserve Bank instructed it to list its shares by September 30, 2019.
This was the first time the central bank had approved an equity investment into a domestic private sector bank by a foreign firm. While the bank had received approval for an IPO in 2015, it did not go ahead with the listing at that time.