Centurion Bank, Bank of Punjab to form Centurion Bank of Punjab

30 June 2005

New Delhi: The boards of directors of Centurion Bank Limited and Bank of Punjab Limited today approved the merger of the two banks. The combined bank will be called Centurion Bank of Punjab and will build upon the strong brand identities of the two banks in their respective markets.

The proposal is subject to all the requisite statutory, regulatory and shareholder approvals.

Centurion Bank's chairman Rana Talwar, and MD Shailendra Bhandari, will be the chairman,. and managing director respectively of the merged entity, while Tejbir Singh, executive director, Bank of Punjab will be the whole-time executive director. The appointments are subject to regulatory approvals.

The share swap ratio has been fixed at 4:9 — for every four shares of Bank of Punjab, its shareholders will receive nine shares of Centurion Bank. KPMG India Private Limited and NM Raiji & Co. are the independent valuers and Ambit Corporate Finance is the sole investment banker to the transaction.

After the merger, the bank will have total assets of Rs9,395 crore and deposits of Rs7,837 crore.