PNB Housing Finance more valuable than parent PNB

PNB Housing Finance is now more valuable than its parent Punjab National Bank which has seen its market capitalisation shrink considerably after being hit by the USD 2 billion fraud carried out allegedly by Nirav Modi.

At the close of trade today, the market capitalisation (m-cap) of PNB Housing Finance stood at Rs 21,172.29 crore, which was Rs 67.71 crore more than that of PNB's Rs 21,104.58 crore valuation on BSE.

Shares of PNB ended with a gain of 1.19 per cent at Rs 76.45, while those of PNB Housing Finance fell by 0.44 per cent to Rs 1,265 on BSE.

The m-cap of PNB Housing Finance was Rs 21,165 crore yesterday, while that of PNB was Rs 20,856 crore.

PNB had a m-cap of Rs 44,624.67 crore in mid-February before it was hit by the fraud.

PNB was defrauded of over USD 2 billion allegedly by diamond trader Nirav Modi and his associates by fraudulent use of Letters of Undertakings (LoUs) and Foreign Letters of Credit (LoC) in connivance with certain bank officials.

Shares of PNB were falling for the past two days, plunging 15.5 per cent due to weak show in the fourth quarter earnings.

PNB holds 32.96 per cent stake in PNB Housing Finance, as per March quarter shareholding pattern available with BSE.

PNB this week posted a loss of Rs 13,416.91 crore for the January-March period, the largest quarterly loss posted by an Indian lender as it bad loans surged.

The state-owned bank had reported standalone profit of Rs 261.90 crore in the fourth quarter of the preceding 2016-17 fiscal.

The bank has witnessed deterioration in gross net performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans, which rose to 18.38 per cent of gross advances at the end of March quarter of last fiscal, as against 12.53 per cent a year ago.

Net NPAs also soared to 11.24 per cent against 7.81 per cent year ago.

"We believe governance issues, operational challenges, uncertain business prospects and diluted franchise makes it a dud investment proposition. FY18 events and weak earnings profile suggest it is on weak terrain," Edelweiss Research said in a note.