Bharat Overseas not keen on merging with IOB
By Our Banking Bureau | 03 Dec 2005
Mumbai:
Bharat Overseas Bank officials have said that the bank
was considering a merger with a small bank like Federal
Bank or Bank of Rajasthan as that would be the right
fit for BhOB.
Even though the Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) is one of the original promoters of the bank, it is a relatively large bank and, hence, BhOB did not want to be absorbed by it, added the officials.
The officials said BhOB''s asset base was less than Rs5,000 crore compared with IOB''s asset base of Rs25,000 crore. IOB holds 30 per cent stake in BhOB. The other shareholders of BhOB are Bank of Rajasthan (16 per cent), ING Vysya Bank (14.66 per cent), Federal Bank (10.67 per cent), Karur Vysya Bank (10 per cent), South Indian Bank (10 per cent) and Karnataka Bank (8.67 per cent).
BhOB is planning an initial public offer and is awaiting Reserve Bank of India''s approval for the offer. The bank initially planned to tap the market in October itself.
Bharat Overseas plans to raise about Rs100 crore to increase its net worth to Rs300 crore from Rs198.38 crore as on March 31, 2005.