BoB scouts for overseas acquisitions

NEW DELHI: Bank of Baroda (BoB) has drawn up an extensive overseas expansion plan, which includes acquisition of an African bank, increasing the number of overseas branches to 70 and opening a representative office in Australia. “We are looking for some good banks in Africa for acquisition,” said Anil K Khandelwal, chairman and managing director of BoB.

To fund increasing foreign operations and meet Basel II obligations, the bank will shortly raise $250 million through Upper Tier-II bonds from offshore market. Among the Indian banks, BoB is the strongest in Africa, he said. It has branches in South Africa and subsidiaries in Kenya and Tanzania. In the next few months the bank will open a branch in Johannesburg and increase the number of branches of its subsidiaries in Kenya and Tanzania, he added.

Besides expanding in Africa, it plans to set up a subsidiary in Trinidad & Tobago and open a representative office in Australia in next four months, Khandelwal said.