Development Credit Bank offloads stake to Tatas for Rs 85 crore

By Our Banking Bureau | 11 Jul 2007

Mumbai: Tata Capital, the new financial services arm of the Tata group, is picking up 4.6 per cent stake in private sector lender Development Credit Bank (DCB) for around Rs85 crore.

DCB, promoted by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (Akfed), is selling 16.6 per cent stake to five investors to raise around Rs310 crore, a senior official of the bank said. The bank now caters to small and medium scale companies.

The other investors who will pick up stakes in the bank include the UAE-based Al Bateen Investment Co, GRA Finance Corp, Mauritius, DCB Investments, Mauritius and India Capital Opportunities 1, Mauritius.

DCB Investments is a special purpose vehicle floated by Schroders, a UK-based asset management company, to invest in the private sector bank.

The Tata group is staging a comeback in the financial sector with the acquisition of a 4.6 per cent stake in the bank for around Rs85 crore, paying DCB Rs105 per share.

"At this point in time, they (Tatas) have come in as financial investors. We cannot speak of the future yet." Gautam Vir, MD and CEO of DCB, said, adding that DCB's investment bankers had short-listed some names, and the bank had selected the five based on the profile of each investor.