Fairfax India Holdings unit sells 9.7% stake in CSB Bank for $70 million

Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa’s Fairfax group on Thursday divested a 9.7 per cent stake in CSB Bank through its arm FIH Mauritius Investments. The open market transaction took place at an average price of Rs 352.75 per piece, taking the transaction size to Rs 595.04 crore.

FIH Mauritius Investments offloaded over 16.8 million shares of CSB Bank through a block deal on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

FIH Mauritius Investments is also the promoter of Thrissur-based CSB Bank.

After the share sale, shareholding of FIH Mauritius Investments in CSB Bank has declined to 40 per cent from 49.72 per cent.

DSP Mutual Fund (MF), ICICI Prudential MF, WhiteOak Capital MF, Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance Company, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Amansa Holdings, and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority were among the buyers of CSB Bank’s shares.

Shares of CSB Bank rose 2.57 per cent to close at Rs 365.10 apiece on the NSE.

In January this year, CSB Bank posted a 4 per cent decline in its profit at Rs 150 crore in the third quarter ended December 2023.
 

The Kerala-based private sector bank had earned a net profit of Rs 156 crore in the same quarter a year ago. Its total income increased to Rs 887 crore during the quarter under review, as against Rs 682 crore in the same period last year.

In another transaction on the NSE, Kotak Mutual Fund sold 51.30 lakh shares of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) for Rs 79 crore through an open market transaction.

Kotak Mutual Fund (MF) through its affiliate Kotak Mahindra MF A/C Kotak Balanced Advantage Fund offloaded 51.30 lakh shares or 0.5 per cent stake in ZEEL at an average price of Rs 154.20 apiece, as per the bulk deal data.

This took the transaction size to Rs 79.10 crore.
 

Details of the buyers of ZEEL's shares could not be ascertained.

On Thursday, scrip of ZEEL fell 2.96 per cent to settle at Rs 151 apiece on the NSE.