SBI invites independent valuers for merger of associates, BMB

SBI Capital Markets has invited proposals for independent valuation and determining the swap ratio for the merger of three State Bank of India (SBI) associates and Bharatiya Mahila Bank with SBI.
The proposals have been sought from chartered accountant firms, SBI Caps said in a public notice. The three SBI associates in question are State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur.
The bank's two other associates - State Bank of Hyderabad and State Bank of Patiala - which will also be merged subsequently, will be valued separately as they are not publicly traded entities.

"Scope of work for the valuer valuing SBI would entail the valuer to value SBI and also work with the independent valuers appointed by each of the target banks separately to arrive at a valuation for SBI and also gain comfort on the valuation of each of the target banks prepared by their respective valuers to issue/sign a joint swap ratio," the notice read.
SBI Caps said the valuer must adopt all market prevalent practices for arriving at the valuation and must submit a joint report along with the valuer of each target bank, indicating the swap ratio for each of them.

The valuer would be required to issue four separate swap ratios, one each in respect of each target bank.

SBI Caps has also invited proposals from merchant banks to provide fairness opinion for the acquisition of SBBJ, SBM, SBT and BMB by SBI.
The nation's largest lender has five associate banks -- SBBJ, SBT, SBM, State Bank of Patiala and State Bank of Hyderabad. Among them, SBBJ, SBM and SBT are listed entities, while the rest are unlisted.
SBI has also set a team of 15-20 members which is working
on the framework of the merger. The team is headed by a general manager and a few deputy general managers.

SBI chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya had recently said all the five associate banks will be merged as soon as possible.
"We are going to merge all of them not on the same day but as quickly as possible," she had said when asked which of the five associate banks will be merged first.
In May, SBI's board had submitted a proposal to the government for merger of its five subsidiaries and first women-oriented lender Bhartiya Mahila Bank with SBI.