Baring Asia leads $209m round for India’s RBL Bank

Baring has offered to pay INR9.9 billion for a 9.45% stake, according to a filing. Other participating investors include CDC Group, Gaja Capital and ICICI Prudential Life. The deal is priced at INR177 per share. RBL Bank's stock closed at INR182.10 on August 20, down 2%. As of early March, the stock was trading at INR301.40.

Previous investors in the company that have exited in recent years include Norwest Venture Partners and Samara Capital. Gaja is also a previous investor, having supported a management buyout in 2010. RBL Bank executed an IPO five years later.

The bank - founded in 1943 as Ratnakar Bank - offers comprehensive banking services for businesses and customers across India. According to its most recent annual report, there were 386 branches serving 8.4 million customers as of March 2020. A total of 62 new branches were opened over the preceding 12 months.

RBL Bank's revenue for the year came to INR104.2 billion, up from INR77.4 billion in 2019. Over the same period, net profit fell from INR9.8 billion to INR6.7 billion.

The bank received investment in the form of debt from CDC in 2016. A year later, a group of investors including CDC, Multiples Alternative Asset Management, ICICI Lombard General Insurance, and HDFC Standard Life Insurance committed INR16.8 billion.

RBL Bank said the capital infusion would boost its capital adequacy ratio to 18.6%. It is one of several lenders to shore up its balance sheet with equity support. Indian banks and non-banking financial companies that have received PE investment this year include IDFC First Bank, IndoStar Capital Finance, and Fullerton India.

Several other lenders have raised fresh capital in order to deal with an anticipated rise in non-performing loans as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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• Topics
• Financials
• South Asia
• PIPEs
• Baring Private Equity Asia
• India
• CDC Group
• Gaja Capital Partners