News reports suggest that the promoters of Catholic Syrian Bank are in talks with potential buyers to sell their stakes. These reports mention HDFC Bank as one of the entities, which is in talks with the promoters, but the talks are at a very preliminary stage. The other names mentioned in this regard are RBL Bank and IDFC, which is all set to become a bank soon. The Kerala bank is also said to have engaged a chartered accountancy firm to conduct possible valuations and negotiate with the clients, which are interested in the buyout. The bank had filed for an IPO in March and is proposing to raise around Rs 400 crore. It is also planning to sell shares so that it can raise around Rs 150 crore pre-IPO. These plans are understood to have been put on hold in the wake of the latest proposal and in search of higher valuations. The promoter shareholders of the bank collectively own more than 50% of the bank although RBI regulations stipulate that they cannot have more than 10%. But individually, none of the promoters hold more than 5%. The bank has some 430 branches, mostly in Kerala and a loan book of Rs 9400 crore.
