HDFC hikes stake in HDFC Bank through warrant conversion

India’s largest mortgage financier Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) has converted warrants issued by HDFC Bank into shares just two days before these expired.

In a notice to the stock exchanges, HDFC Bank on Monday announced that it had allotted 2,62,00,220 shares to its parent at Rs 1,530.13 per share. The warrants were to expire on December 2.

As of September 30, HDFC held a 19.29 per cent stake in HDFC Bank, the country’s second-largest private sector lender. The mortgage lender’s stake in HDFC Bank will now rise to 23.8 per cent.

The warrants were issued to HDFC in June last year during the merger of HDFC Bank with Centurion Bank of Punjab, to allow the mortgage lender to maintain its shareholding in the merged entity.

HDFC received 26.2 million warrants at Rs 1,530.13 per warrant on a preferential basis, adding up to Rs 4,000 crore. Of this, HDFC had to pay 10 per cent of the total amount or Rs 400.9 crore upfront, in line with guidelines on preferential allotment.

HDFC Bank’s capital adequacy ratio (CAR), or capital as a percentage of total risk-weighted assets, was 15.7 per cent at the end of the September quarter, with Tier-I CAR at 10.9 per cent. The bank’s CAR will now rise above 17 per cent.

On June 3, 2008, the date on which the warrants were issued, HDFC Bank’s stock price was Rs 1,282.55 per share on the Bombay Stock Exchange. During the stock market bear run, the stock hit a low of Rs 774 on March 6, 2009, but regained when the markets bounced back.

HDFC Bank’s stock was trading at Rs 1,756.25 at the end of trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Monday, up 0.49 per cent over the previous close.