SBI to buy foreign bank in 2 months

State Bank of India (SBI) today said it will acquire a foreign bank in two months.

"Discussions are on for acquiring an overseas bank. It is likely to be finalised in two months time," A K Purwar, Chairman, SBI told PTI.

Purwar had earlier said the SBI was now eying to acquire a medium sized bank and was willing to spend up to $100 million for the buy out.

The bank has identified a bank in Bangladesh for acquisition, but is tight-lipped as it has to abide by local laws till the deal is clinched.

According to sources, SBI's target in Bangladesh is Rupali Bank, a medium sized bank.

SBI made a bold statement of its intentions in 2005 by acquiring three small banks -- Indonesia's PT Bank Indomonex, Mauritious-based Indian Ocean International Bank and Kenya's Giro Commercial Bank for less than $10 million each.

SBI is also mulling a tier II bond issue in June-July to raise resources to support credit growth and global expansion plans as it plans to increase foreign branches and offices from 58 in 35 countries to 100 in next two years.

The bank has adopted both organic and inorganic path for rapid growth in business in its bid to become a trully global bank.

SBI and its seven associates have about 13,800 branches and more than 6,000 ATMs.