Public sector lender Bank of India has proposed to sell its 25.05% stake in joint venture Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd for Rs 1,106.5 crore ($160 million).
Inviting non-binding bids for the partial stake sale, the bank said in a filing that it wants to sell 64.9 million shares at a floor price of Rs 170.50 apiece. The other partners in the joint venture set up in 2009 are state-owned Union Bank of India Ltd and Japan's Dai-ichi Life Holdings Inc. Bank of India has a 28.96% stake in the joint venture, while Union Bank of India and Dai-ichi Life own 25.10% and 45.94%, respectively.
The last day for submission of bids is 29 April.
Last year in September, Bank of India had offered to sell its stakes in three firms: STCI Finance, SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of India) and Equifax Credit Information Services. The lender holds 29.96% stake in STCI Finance and 2.84% stake in SIDBI.
In 2017, Bank of India had offered to sell its stake in STCI Finance but dropped the initiative after the bids received were below expectations.
For the October-to-December quarter, Bank of India widened its net loss to Rs 4,738 crore, hit by nearly a two-fold jump in provisioning for bad loans.
For the quarter, the bank's provision coverage ratio (PCR) rose to 76.76% as on 31 December 2018 from 56.96% a year earlier.
Gross bad loans or non-performing assets (NPAs) were marginally down to 16.31% of total loans as on 31 December 2018 from 16.93% a year earlier.
In absolute terms, gross NPAs reduced to Rs 60,798 crore as on 31 December 2018 from Rs 64,249 crore a year earlier.
Net NPAs were valued at Rs 19,437 crore or 5.87% of total loans as on 31 December 2018, against Rs 36,117 crore or 10.29% a year earlier.