The government expects to receive financial bids for IDBI Bank by March.
New Delhi:
The Finance Ministry on Thursday extended the deadline for potential bidders to submit queries on privatization of IDBI Bank by 13 days to November 10.
The ministry had on October 7 issued a preliminary information memorandum (PIM) inviting bids to sell around 61 per cent stake in IDBI Bank.
The deadlines for questioning and submission of bids by interested bidders were October 28 and December 16, respectively.
The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) on Thursday issued a corrigendum to the PIM and extended the deadline for submission of queries till November 10.
The government expects to receive financial bids for IDBI Bank by March and complete the privatization process in the first half of the next fiscal, starting April 2023.
After the stake sale, the stake of the government and LIC combined will come down to 34 per cent, from 94.72 per cent at present.
LIC and the government currently hold 49.24 per cent and 45.48 per cent stake in IDBI Bank, respectively. The remaining 5.28 percent stake is with the public.
Of this, the government will sell 30.48 per cent and LIC will sell 30.24 per cent, which is 60.72 per cent of the equity share capital of IDBI Bank.
Apart from this, the buyer will also have to make an open offer to the minority shareholders of IDBI Bank to buy 5.28 per cent stake.
The interested bidders will have to clear the ‘Fit and Proper’ assessment by RBI and obtain security clearance from the Government/Ministry of Home Affairs at the EoI stage itself, to be able to access the IDBI Bank data room.
Shares of IDBI Bank closed 0.33 per cent higher at Rs 45.20 on the BSE. At the current market price, 60.72 per cent stake will fetch about Rs 29,500 crore to the exchequer.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
