Billionaire Kotak Seeks to Raise $901 Million for Banking Unit

(Bloomberg) -- Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., controlled by Indian billionaire Uday Kotak, plans to raise as much as $901 million selling shares to institutions to help boost lending in the world’s fastest-growing major economy.

The Mumbai-based lender is offering as many as 62 million shares for 930 rupees to 936 rupees apiece, according to terms of the deal obtained by Bloomberg. Bank of America Corp., Kotak Mahindra Capital and Morgan Stanley are arranging the sale, according to the terms.

The proceeds from India’s second-biggest share sale this year may help Kotak Mahindra win more clients as state lenders struggle with stressed assets. The nation’s banking industry is one of the most fragmented, with about 48 lenders owning national networks that compete for $1.6 trillion of deposits.

The sale will also help Uday Kotak comply with an Indian central bank directive earlier this year to cut his ownership in the lender to 30 percent by the end of June. Kotak, who started the bank in 2003, must trim the stake further, to 20 percent, by the end of 2018, and to 15 percent by March 2020.

Uday Kotak sold 27.6 million shares in March, equivalent to a 1.5 percent stake, to Canadian pension fund managers Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. The banker held about 32 percent of Kotak Mahindra after that sale.

Kotak Mahindra shares advanced 1 percent to a record at the 3:30 p.m. close in Mumbai.

To contact the reporters on this story: Ameya Karve in Mumbai at akarve@bloomberg.net, Anto Antony in Mumbai at aantony1@bloomberg.net, George Smith Alexander in Mumbai at galexander11@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Divya Balji at dbalji1@bloomberg.net, Arijit Ghosh, Ravil Shirodkar