As part of its efforts to sell non-core assets, public sector lender Bank of India plans to raise Rs 626 crore (around $98 million) by selling its 30% stake in non-banking finance company STCI Finance.
The bank has floated a request for proposal (RFP) to sell its stake in STCI Finance which is majority-owned by government institutions, it said in a stock exchange filing.
BoI owns 11,383,781 equity shares or 29.96% in STCI Finance and is expecting a minimum price of Rs 500 for each share,
This means that the state-owned lender is expecting a minimum bid of around Rs 626 crore for its stake.
BoI said it is expecting to receive final bids for STCI Finance by 22 August, though it will meet potential bidders on 14 August for a pre-bid meeting, the RFP said.
The buyers have to meet the bank’s eligibility criteria which include a minimum net worth of Rs 50 crore for a company and assets under management of at least Rs1,000 crore for a private equity fund or an insurance firm. The buyer should also have dry powder of Rs 1,000 crore as on 31 March 2017, according to the RFP.
STCI Finance is a non-deposit taking finance company and provides loans against shares, corporate loans against properties, construction finance and corporate loans. It has two wholly owned subsidiaries—STCI Primary Dealer Ltd (STCIPD) and STCI Commodities Ltd.
The share sale is in line with BoI’s strategy to sell non-core assets.
In March, the bank sold it’s a 5% stake in credit information bureau CIBIL to Transunion International for around Rs 190 crore, regulatory filings show.
In June 2016, it sold an 18% stake in Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd to Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd for around $80 million.
Earlier this year, Dinabandhu Mohapatra was appointed chief executive officer of the bank.
For the fiscal ended 31 March 2017, the bank reported a net loss of Rs1,558 crore against a net loss of Rs6,089 crore in the previous year.
Its provisions for non-performing assets declined to Rs 4,484 crore as on 31 March 2017 from Rs 5,442 crore a year earlier. Its bad loans were 13.22% of total loans as on 31 March which is higher than 13.07% a year ago.