Bank Muscat sells 81% of stake in HDFC Bank

Bank Muscat today said it has sold 81 per cent of its stake in India's second largest private sector lender HDFC Bank and has received around 39 million rials (Rs 507 crore) in pre-tax profits from the sale.

In a regulatory filing to the Muscat Stock Exchange, Bank Muscat said up till now it has "sold approximately 81 per cent of its stake in HDFC Bank, India. The pre-tax profit on the sale of this stake is about 39 million rials."

Bank Muscat further said that "the remaining balance in HDFC bank is held in depository form and the bank will consider further disposals over time subject to market conditions".

Bank Muscat held 90,51,724 equity shares representing 2.13 per cent stake in HDFC Bank as on December 31, 2008.

Oman's biggest lender did not disclose the other financial details of the share sale and said that the "full details will be presented in our first quarter results".

On March 17, Bank Muscat had said that it had till then sold 40 per cent of its stake in HDFC Bank and would offload the entire holding over a period of time.