New Delhi : The State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender, will soon hire six merchant bankers for managing Rs 15,000 crore share sale.
The process for selection is on and will take a few more days before a final call is taken, sources said. According to sources, many entities, including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, Citi, IIFL, JM Financial and Kotak have applied, but nothing has been finalised yet.
SBI, which last month merged with itself five associate banks and the Bharatiya Mahila Bank, will raise funds through follow-on public offer or qualified institutional placement to expand business. “The bank intends to tap capital markets via a QIP or FPO. The issue size may vary based on various factors including but not limited to management discretion and the decision of the shareholders,” SBI had said in a public notice, reports PTI.
The last date for submission of bids for the request for proposal (RFP) was May 22. SBI has already taken the board approval for raising up to Rs 15,000 crore through various means, including public offer and overseas issuance of shares, in the current fiscal. 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 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.
