Bandhan Bank hits 6-month high; gains 9% in 3 days post HDFC stake sale

Shares of Bandhan Bank hit six-month high of Rs 335 in an otherwise weak market, up 4 per cent on the BSE in Tuesday's intra-day trade. The stock of the private sector lender rebounded 6 per cent from its intra-day low of Rs 317.40.

The stock hit its highest level since October 2021 and was close to its 52-week high level of Rs 354.10 touched on June 28, 2021. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.47 per cent at 58,686 points at 02:47 PM.

In the past three trading days, Bandhan Bank has gained 9 per cent after housing finance major Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) on Friday, April 8, 2022 divested 49.63 million shares, representing 3.08 per cent of total equity of the bank, through an open market transaction.

According to the bulk deal data available with the BSE, Societe Generale picked up 19.08 million shares of the Bandhan Bank for Rs 306.55 per piece at an estimated Rs 585 crore.

Meanwhile, in the past one month, Bandhan Bank has outperformed the market by surging 28 per cent as compared to 5.6 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.

Bandhan Bank reported a robust pickup in business growth in a traditionally busy fourth quarter. Bandhan Bank on April 5 said its loan book crossed the Rs 1 trillion-mark for the first time in January-March 2022 (Q4FY2), registering an increase of 16 per cent compared to the same period a year ago. The bank's total loan stood at Rs 1.01 trillion during Q4 of FY22.

Deposits grew at a much higher pace of 24 per cent year-on-year to Rs 96,331 crore, of which the low-cost CASA (Current Account Savings Account) deposits grew 18 per cent to Rs 40,072 crore, the bank said.

"Improving trends in collection efficiency should continue to moderate credit cost and support earnings. However, movement in the SMA book and performance of the restructured book remains a key monitorable," Motilal Oswal Financial Services said in its update.