International Finance Corporation (IFC) is looking to invest Rs 130 crore ($24 million) in Ratnakar Bank Ltd as part of the lender’s latest round of fundraising. The Kolhapur-based bank is raising Rs 325-330 crore ($60 million) from a set of 5-6 private equity investors.
According to a January report published in Mint, the deal is being done at a valuation of Rs 2,500 crore and the new set of investors include Aditya Birla Private Equity, ICICI’s Emerging India Fund, IDFC Spice, Ascent Capital and Argonaut Ventures.
In early 2011, Ratnakar Bank raised equity funding from India’s largest mortgage lender HDFC Ltd and also from a consortium of private equity investors including Norwest Venture Partners, Beacon India Private Equity Fund, Cartica Capital, Faering Capital, Gaja Capital Partners, TVS Shriram Growth Fund and Samara Capital, among others. The bank raised Rs 720 crore during that round.
Its shareholding mix comprises 40 per cent retail shareholders and 60 per cent professional and institutional investors. Ratnakar is lead by Vishwavir Ahuja, former India CEO of Bank of America.
Ratnakar is a small-sized and old private sector bank with branch footprint across Maharashtra, Karnataka and Goa, and a small presence in Delhi and Gujarat. It mostly focuses on small and medium businesses in sectors like trading, agriculture and manufacturing. Ratnakar has a network of 1,750 employees, 117 branches and 158 ATMs.
In its half-yearly results declaration, Ratnakar Bank reported a total business of around Rs 10,100 crore, up from Rs 6,400 crore in the same period last year. The net profit improved to Rs 44 crore in the half-year ending September 2012, up from Rs 30 crore last year.
By FY2016, Ratnakar Bank plans to increase its advances to micro & small enterprises (MSME) from Rs 40 crore (in FY12) to Rs 450 crore. The bank’s growth strategy also involves increasing its women borrowers from around 10,350 in FY12 to 450,000 in FY16.
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(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)
