Private sector lender Catholic Syrian Bank Ltd has filed its draft prospectus to raise up to Rs 400 crore ($64.2 million) in its maiden public issue. This would be the first new private sector bank to float its initial public offer (IPO) in almost a decade.
In 2006, DCB Bank went public and a year earlier Yes Bank had floated its IPO. However, there have been a few IPOs of PSU banks since then.
The firm, which operates under the banner of Catholic Syrian Bank, joins the list of over a half of dozen other companies which have also applied for a public float since January this year.
Here's a snapshot of the IPO
* Total issue comprises fresh issue of shares to raise up to Rs 400 crore including a reservation of up to Rs 10 crore for applications from its eligible employees.
* Bankers: ICICI Securities and Kotak Mahindra Capital.
Use of proceeds
* It will use the proceeds from the IPO to augment tier-I capital base.
Company
* Thrissur-based Catholic Syrian Bank focuses on small and medium enterprises (SME), retail and NRI customers.
* The bank has four principal business, including SME banking, retail banking, corporate banking and treasury operations.
* As of December 31, 2014, the bank had 431 branches (comprising five service branches) and 232 ATMs spread across 15 states and four union territories. It has a customer base of 1.61 million.
* Loans to SME customers accounted for 33.41 per cent, 40.40 per cent and 43.18 per cent of the loan book while retail banking advances accounted for 50.79 per cent, 45.57 per cent and 43.66 per cent as on March 31, 2013, March 31, 2014 and September 30, 2014, respectively. It also has over a quarter of its business comprising gold loans.
Financial
For the six months ended September 30, 2014, it had total income Rs 819.3 crore with net profit of Rs 18.2 crore. For the financial year ended March 31, 2014, the company posted total revenues of Rs 1,621.3 crore against Rs 1,415 crore in FY13. Its net profit rose from Rs 26.6 crore to Rs 40 crore in the same period.
Investors
The bank has a diversified investor base with several high net worth individuals besides PE firms such as AIF Capital and Siguler Guff. They are sticking to the company as of now and unlike several PE-backed companies filing for IPO, they have not offered to part or fully exit the bank.
Last year a fund managed by Lighthouse also proposed to participate in a preferential allotment worth Rs 157.4 crore. However, it did not invest in the issue whose size was more than halved eventually; it ended up raising a little over Rs 61 crore last October.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)
