CSB Bank eyes Rs 400 crore from IPO

CSB Bank Ltd, formerly Catholic Syrian Bank, an old private sector bank headquartered in Kerala, is planning an Initial Public offering (IPO) to raise Rs 30 crore and an offer of sale to raise another Rs 370 crore from the market. Investment Company Fairfax India is the largest shareholder in the bank. The other shareholders are private equity funds and Kerala based businessman Yusuf Ali.

"RBI has given us a deadline to list by September and we will be complying with it. After the Securities and Exchange Board of India gives us the permission we will hit the market," said a source.

Prior to the filing of the draft red herring prospectus with the market regulator, Fairfax India exercised its remaining CSB Bank warrants and, as a result, currently owns 86,262,976 equity shares, representing a 50.1% equity interest (on a fully-diluted basis) in CSB Bank.

The IPO comprises fresh issue aggregating up to Rs 30 crore and an offer for sale of up to 19,778,298 Equity Shares aggregating to by the selling shareholders.

The net proceeds from the fresh issue are proposed to be utilised towards to augment Bank's Tier - I capital base to meet its future capital requirements, which are expected to arise out of growth in the bank's assets, primarily loans, advances and investment portfolio, and to ensure compliance with Basel III norms and other RBI guidelines, the lender said.

Axis Capital Ltd and IIFL Securities are the book running lead managers to the issue. The equity shares will be listed on BSE and NSE.

The bank has a significant presence in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra.