United Bank gets govt nod for IPO

Public sector lender United Bank of India (UBI) today said it has got the government approval to float an initial public offer (IPO) which is expected to hit the capital markets latest by the first week of February.

UBI Chairman and Managing Director S C Gupta told reporters here today that the bank has been permitted to issue 5 crore equity shares at a face value of Rs 10 to the public at a reasonable premium.

Post-IPO, the government holding in the bank would come down by 16 per cent from the present 100 per cent.

The Centre is also understood to have decided to introduce the SBI Amendment Bill in the current session of Parliament. The Bill seeks to dilute its stakes in the nation's largest bank to 51 per cent from the current 59.41 per cent. The amendment will enable SBI to come up with a follow-on public offer.

SBI Chief Financial Officer S S Ranjan told PTI earlier in the day that the proposed move will hlep the lender to raise around Rs 12,000 crore.