SBI Cards IPO to open for subscription on March 2

The Rs 9,000-crore initial public offering (IPO) of SBI Cards and Payment Services, the credit card unit of the country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI), will open for subscription on March 2.

The company, which had filed draft IPO papers in November last year, obtained "observations" from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on February 11.

The IPO will open for subscription on March 2 and close on March 5, SBI said in a regulatory filing.

"Further, SBI has been informed by SBI Cards that, in compliance with applicable law, including, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2018, Anchor Investors shall bid one working day prior to the bid/offer opening date, being February 28, 2020," it said.

Further, subscription period for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) will close one working day prior to the closing date on March 4, it said.

According to the draft papers, SBI Cards will offer up to 130,526,798 equity shares through an offer-for-sale route. This will include up to 37,293,371 share sale by SBI and up to 93,233,427 shares on offer by Carlyle Group. In addition, the company will also issue fresh equity shares of Rs 500 crore.

SBI holds 76 per cent in SBI Cards and the rest of the stake is held by Carlyle Group.

SBI Cards is the second-largest credit card issuer in India with an 18 per cent market share.

SBI Cards was launched in October 1998 by SBI and GE Capital. In December 2017, State Bank of India and The Carlyle Group acquired GE Capital's stake in the Company.