RBL Bank Ltd said on Monday it has raised Rs 488 crore ($74 million) in a pre-IPO round of fundraising from international investors.
The private-sector lender, earlier known as Ratnakar Bank, said it has raised funds from the Asian Development Bank and UK-based development finance institution CDC Group, among others.
“This capital raise was undertaken to augment the tier 1 capital base of the bank,†said Vishwavir Ahuja, managing director and CEO at RBL Bank.
While ADB comes as a new investor in the bank, CDC has put in more money after investing Rs 168 crore ($28 million) in RBL in April 2014 to take a 4.8 per cent stake.
RBL, which is backed by several private equity firms, had in June applied to raise up to Rs 1,100 crore ($173 million) through a fresh issue of shares in addition to an offer for sale by some shareholders.
The proposed initial public offering would lead to a complete exit for Beacon India Private Equity Fund. Gaja Capital and Capvent would also sell shares as part of the IPO.
IPO-bound companies do tend to have a pre-IPO round of funding, but that is mostly as a price discovery exercise. Given the significant size of the latest transaction it is not yet clear whether RBL may prune the size of the IPO.
The bank's IPO approval has been delayed as SEBI is looking at certain past violations by the company.
