HDFC Ltd on Friday sold around 49.6 million shares or around a 3% stake in private sector lender Bandhan Bank in a bulk deal to bring its shareholding to just below 5% to comply with regulatory guidelines. Bandhan Bank, in a stock exchange filing on the BSE, informed that HDFC sold 49.6 million shares at Rs 306.61 apiece. At the end of the third quarter of the previous fiscal, HDFC’s stake in the lender stood at 9.89%.
According to market sources, HDFC had sold around 1.5% stake sometime back, and after Friday’s bulk deal, its shareholding in the bank comes down to just below 5%. “This share sale is basically to comply with RBI’s guidelines,” sources said.
HDFC had to pare its stake in Bandhan Bank to below 5% due to the proposed merger with HDFC Bank.
On April 4, HDFC Bank and HDFC announced that they had entered into a definitive agreement whereby the business of HDFC will be merged into HDFC Bank in an all-stock transaction.