Bank of Maharashtra has kickstarted roadshows in UAE for its next equity fundraising by way of qualified institutional placements, likely to take place in the December quarter, three experts aware of the development told NDTV Profit.
It is looking to dilute 4.6% stake, and end of 2025 in the third quarter may be the right time, a senior bank executive said.
The nationalised bank is looking to raise up to Rs 2,500 crore through a mix of overseas and domestic investors, which include hedge funds, pension funds and sovereign funds.
The bank has laid out plans for foreign roadshows for the whole of 2025 and will also be looking at investors in Singapore, Hong Kong, US and UK.
This has come as Bank of Maharashtra plans to comply with Securities Exchange Board of India's minimum public holding norms, which require listed companies to have at least 25% of their shares held by the public by August 2026.
Given that the market conditions aren't conducive for an equity fundraising at the moment, Bank of Maharashtra will seek the board's approval in April, those familiar with the matter said.
While the bank is yet to finalise merchant bankers for the same, IDBI Capital, Motilal Oswal Financial Services and Systematix could likely be on the cards as lead managers along with some foreign bankers as well.
Motilal Oswal was not immediately reachable, Systematix declined to comment on the matter and email sent to IDBI Capital was left answered at the time of publishing this story.
In October 2024, the Pune-based bank had raised equity capital of Rs 3,500 crore through QIP at a price of Rs 57.36 per share, which brought the government's holding to 79.60% from 86.46% earlier.
On Thursday, shares of Bank of Maharashtra closed at Rs 47.81, down nearly 2%.
For the quarter ended December, the bank's capital adequacy ratio was 18.71%. Going forward, it plans to maintain it at 17-18% for its growth as it aims to add 1,000 branches in the next five years.
During October-December 2024, the bank's asset quality remained stable, with gross non-performing assets ratio at 1.80%, lower than 1.84% a quarter ago and 2.04% a year ago. Net NPA was flat on quarter at 0.20% and was 0.22% in the same period a year ago.
Gross advances grew 21% on year to Rs 2.28 lakh crore, while total deposits grew 14% on year to Rs 2.79 lakh crore.
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