BoR board to meet today

To discuss how to take forward merger with ICICI Bank.

The board of directors of the Bank of Rajasthan (BoR) will meet in Mumbai Thursday afternoon to discuss the steps it must initiate to take forward the process of its merger with ICICI Bank, according to BoR Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer G Padmanabhan.

The board will also discuss whatever legal counsel it gets from its advisors, Fox and Mandal, regarding the extraordinary general meeting (EGM) it was forced to adjourn before a formal voting took place on the merger plan with ICICI Bank on Monday. The adjournment followed a stay order by a Kolkata city civil court. The stay was lifted soon-after by an order of the Kolkata High Court, which had been moved by the ICICI Bank on the issue.

“The board will discuss how to take the merger process forward,’’ said Padmanabhan. “Everything will be discussed.”

Meanwhile, some shareholders led by D V Lakhani conducted a poll after the board members left the venue after adjourning the meet. Lakhani and other shareholders reported that, of the 6,900 ballots cast, about 99 per cent members present and 85 per cent of the value of votes cast favoured the plan to merge with ICICI Bank.

The group of shareholders sent the result of their voting to the two main stock exchanges in Mumbai and one at Jaipur, along with BoR itself. “The BoR board also plans to discuss the report that was delivered at its office,” Padmanabhan said.

Under the merger plan, BoR shareholders will get one share of ICICI Bank for every 4.72 shares, according to the terms based on the strategic value of the merger, average market capitalisation of old private sector banks and other similar transactions.

On May 18, Bank of Rajasthan said its dominant shareholder group had entered into a merger agreement with ICICI Bank. The merger will help ICICI bank to increase its presence in the northern and western states and increase the number of branches by about 25 per cent.