With NPA-saddled banks trying to raise money from sale of non-core assets, global credit information company TransUnion has raised its stake in its Indian subsidiary Cibil to 77.1 per cent by buying out ICICI Bank and Bank of Baroda's holding in it.
The American company's holding, which earlier stood at 66.1 per cent, has now risen to 77.1 per cent, an updated shareholding pattern shared on Cibil's website said.
ICICI Bank has sold its six per cent stake in the company, while Bank of Baroda has sold its five per cent holding, a comparison of the shareholding patterns disclosed earlier with the updated one reveals.
The Reserve Bank has recently permitted 100 per cent foreign direct investment in the CICs subject to certain conditions like diversified ownership at the acquirer entity and directors' nationality being Indian.
Cibil, which began operations in August 2000, was formed as a joint venture between banks and TransUnion. Many lenders, including State Bank of India, HDFC have sold stakes to TransUnion in the past.
Managements of both ICICI Bank as well as Bank of Baroda have guided towards intentions to sell stakes in non-core assets in the aftermath of RBI's asset quality review, which led to erosion of profits.
Bank of Baroda has reported record losses in Indian banking history in the December 2015 and March 2016 quarters, while ICICI Bank has seen declines in profits.
Details around the money raised by the two lenders by selling their stakes to TransUnion were not immediately available.
Shares of both ICICI Bank and Bank of Baroda witnessed strong buying in today's trade on BSE and the scrips closed above both the sectoral indice as well as the benchmark.
The ICICI Bank scrip closed almost 3 per cent up at Rs 247.55 a piece, while Bank of Baroda was up 2.08 per cent at Rs 159.80 a piece. The BSE's benchmark Sensex closed 0.49 per cent up, while the sectoral Bankex was up 0.60 per cent.
After this transaction, the remaining shareholders in Cibil are Indian Overseas Bank (5 per cent), Union Bank of India (5 per cent), Bank of India (5 per cent), Aditya Birla Trustee Company (4 per cent), India Alternatives Private Equity (2.9 per cent) and India Infoline Finance (1 per cent).
