Centurion GDR raises $70m, foreign stake touches 72%

Centurion Bank has raised $70 million (about Rs 300 crore) through a issue of 14,583,300 global depositary receipts (GDRs) at a price of $4.80 per GDR.

The GDR has been priced at a 6.6 per cent discount to Tuesday's closing price of Rs 15.10 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) as each GDR represents 15 equity shares of the bank of a face value of Re 1 per share. The GDRs will be listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

On the Bombay Stock Exchange, the Centurion Bank scrip ended gaining 2.32 per cent to end today at Rs 15.45.

Post issue, the foreign holding in Centurion Bank will go up to around 72 per cent from 66.39 per cent making it the most foreign owned bank in the country. "The issue received strong investor interest from Asia and Europe," said Shailendra Bhandari, managing director of Centurion Bank.

The bank aimed at raising around $70 million. However, considering the investor interest the bank has given a greenshoe option to the book runner for up to $10 million, said Bhandari.

Citigroup acted as the sole book runner and lead manager to the GDR offering. "Fresh capital infusion will enable the bank support its future growth plans and also boost its capital adequacy ratio," said Bhandari.

After the issue the bank's capital adequacy ratio will go up to over 15 per cent from the current 10.15 per cent, he added.

This capital should enable the bank support growth plans for around two to three years, he added. The issue will lead to around 20 per cent dilution in share holding, said Bhandari.