CSB Bank gets Sebi's go-ahead for IPO

Kerala-based CSB Bank, formerly known as Catholic Syrian Bank, has received Sebi's go-ahead to float an initial public offering.

The private sector lender, which filed draft papers with the markets regulator in August, received its observations on October 1, latest update with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) showed.

The observations are very important to any company for launching public issues like initial public offer (IPO), follow-on public offer (FPO) and rights issue.

Through the offer, CSB Bank is looking to raise fresh capital by issuing shares worth Rs 30 crore apart from an offer for sale of 1.98 crore shares by existing shareholders.

The bank is one of India's oldest with a history of over 98 years and has a strong base in Kerala along with significant presence in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Maharashtra, according to the prospectus.

Proceeds from the fresh issue would be utilised towards "augmenting the bank's tier-1 capital base to meet future capital requirements which are expected to arise out of growth in our bank's assets, primarily our bank's loans/advances and investment portfolio, and to ensure compliance with Basel III and other RBI guidelines," it said.

Shares of the bank will be listed on BSE and NSE, it said.

Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa has controlling stake in the bank which posted a loss of Rs 197.4 crore in financial year 2018-19.

Last year, Watsa's Fairfax India Holdings Corporation acquired 51 per cent stake in the bank for around Rs 440 crore, following which the Reserve Bank instructed it to list its shares by September 30, 2019. This was the first time the central bank had approved an equity investment into a domestic private sector bank by a foreign firm.

CSB had previously filed for a Rs 400 crore IPO in 2015 and had obtained the regulator's clearance too to launch the issue but did not go ahead with the plans then. This would be the first bank to get listed since August 2016, when RBL Bank got listed.