RBL Bank’s Board Backs Its Plan To Raise Rs 825 Crore

RBL Bank Ltd.’s board has approved the lender’s plan to raise about Rs 825 crore via preferential issue of shares, according to an exchange notification today.

The private lender plans to sell 24,238,310 shares aggregating at Rs 340.70 apiece, it said in a statement.

“The board has approved raising of funds by issuing of equity shares of the bank on a private placement basis subject to shareholders’ approval,” RBL Bank said.

Of the Rs 825 crore, Bajaj Finance Ltd. and East Bridge Capital Master Fund I will be investing nearly Rs 150 crore each, WF Asian Reconnaissance Fund will infuse Rs 224 crore, lshana Capital Master Fund and FEG Mauritius FPI will be investing about Rs 214 crore and 86 crore, respectively, the statement said.

On Nov. 27, BloombergQuint had reported that the private lender was looking to raise about Rs 1,500 crore (around $200 million) within a week through a share sale that would be a mix of a preferential issue and a qualified institutional placement.

The bank’s gross non-performing assets in percentage terms jumped to 2.6 percent in the quarter ended September from 1.38 percent in the preceding quarter. Its capital adequacy ratio rose to 13.7 percent in the three months ended September from 12.4 percent in the first quarter of the ongoing financial year.

RBL Bank had secured shareholder approval for the fundraising plan at its annual general meeting in July. In an earnings call after the September quarter, it had said that the fundraising may be completed before the end of the ongoing fiscal.