RBL Bank raises Rs 328 cr from global investors

Public offer in next 9-12 months on cards

RBL Bank, formerly known as Ratnakar Bank, today said it has raised Rs 328 crore from a group of global investors.

Besides the capital injection by institutional investors, the private lender may hit the market with public offering for shares in 9-12 months, said Rajeev Ahuja, Head of Strategy at RBL Bank.

The capital infusion was led by CDC Group and Asia Capital and Advisors. The bank's existing investors, including International Finance Corporation (IFC), private sector funding arm of World bank, and Gaja Capital, also participated in this round. This is the third time the private lender has raised money in the last three years.

In April 2013, RBL bank had raised Rs 324 crore from a group of global and domestic investors to finance its expansion programme. It was the second round of capital infusion into the bank. The private sector lender had raised Rs 700 crore in January 2011.

The Equity investment will support expansion strategy and take agribusiness, financial inclusion and SME lending activities to underserved states, Kolhapur-based bank said in a statement.

At present, the Bank has a total business size of over Rs. 21,000 crore and offers its services to over half a million customers. Ahuja said bank has grown business – deposits and advances – by over 40% in 2013-14 and expects to maintain same pace in 2014-15.

Founded in 1943, RBL Bank traditionally concentrated in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Goa. In 2010, , a new management team was brought in to pursue an expansion strategy focusing on financial inclusion, agribusiness financing and lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as increasing the Bank’s geographic footprint.

Over the next five years, RBL Bank plans to increase its client base amongst financially excluded groups to 1.3 million accounts supported by a robust ICT enabled strategy.

Srini Nagarajan, CDC Regional Director South Asia said “we are strongly aligned with RBL Bank’s strategy to expand and provide a range of financial services to customer segments that are under-served by the market, and our stable investment approach will complement the company’s strong management team as they continue to implement the Bank’s growth strategy”.

The Bank’s investment in state-of-the-art systems and architecture has been one of the main drivers behind its scalability of operations, innovation, client service and expansion of various businesses.