AU Small Finance Bank raises Rs 625.50 cr from investors via qualified institutional placement

Jaipur-based AU Small Finance Bank has raised Rs 625.50 crore by issuing shares to a set of investors through qualified institutional placement (QIP). The bank has completed the allotment of equity shares under QIP and has successfully raised Rs 625.5 crore through the issuance of 50,00,000 equity shares at an issue price of Rs 1,251 per share, the bank said in a regulatory filing. The issue was launched on March 9, with a floor price of Rs 1,181.06 apiece. The QIP witnessed strong reception from both domestic and international institutional investors and the QIP was subscribed by sovereign wealth funds, large foreign portfolio investors, life insurance companies and a domestic mutual funds, AU Small Finance Bank said.

AU Bank intends to use the net proceeds for supporting long-term growth aligned to the bank’s internal risk appetite, to maintain sufficient headroom over and above the regulatory capital adequacy requirements; and for general corporate requirements or any other purposes, it said. The allottees who have been allotted more than 5 per cent of the equity shares offered in the issue were : Government of Singapore (26.69 per cent); Monetary Authority of Singapore (5.91 per cent), HDFC Life Insurance Co Ltd (23.60 per cent); and Small Cap World Fund, Inc (39.66 per cent). “We have successfully closed the first ever QIP of the Bank. We received a strong reception from global and local investors which is a testament to the quality of our banking franchise and our future outlook,” said Sanjay Agarwal, MD & CEO of AU Bank.

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The Bank has emerged stronger after the pandemic, and the bank’s performance gives it greater confidence to continue serving the small businesses and retail borrowers in the underserved and unserved rural and semi-urban regions of the country, Agarwal said. “We intend to use the net proceeds from this issue, amongst others, to support the long-term growth of the bank,” he added. Stocks of AU SFB were trading at Rs 1,227 apiece on BSE, up 3.35 per cent.