Smaller PSBs may not come cheap in future M&As: Oriental Bank, UBI indicate

Post asset quality clean up, Oriental Bank and United Bank have stated their intent to be acquirers and not targets in the process of consolidation

Usually, the results of smaller public sector banks (PSBs) don’t invoke much interest from investors. However, it was different in the case of Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) and United Bank of India (UBI). 

Both banks, which draw a bulk of their business from the eastern and north-eastern regions, have lately made rather strong statements that they would like to be seen as strong acquisition candidates, not as targets. 

Coming from banks with balance sheet strength of Rs 2.65-4.85 trillion, these statements took many by surprise. The circumstances under which these banks sent out such messages were equally astounding. 

For one, OBC slipped