Public Issue from SBI subsidiaries

SBI plans listing of its subsidiaries soon involving an initial public offer (IPO) for its credit card, mutual fund or investment banking arm. Bank’s chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya while announcing the Rs 8,400-crore offer for sale (OFS) of shares in its life insurance arm, mentioned about the listing plans. “This public issue from SBI group comes after a gap of more than 24 years. The next one will not take that long,” said Bhattacharya. SBI will realize up to Rs 5,400 crores from the OFS to get a much-needed boost to its capital base. Together with its partner BNP Paribas, SBI has invested Rs 1,000 crores in the company since its launch in 2002. Justifying the premium, SBI Life MD & CEO Arijit Basu said that the private life insurer was the market leader in premium income and had the highest agent productivity and lowest cost ratio. The public offering of SBI Life’s shares is the first billion-dollar IPO from India since 2010.