Punjab National Bank will divest its stakes in unit PNB Housing Finance Ltd. and other entities including BSE Ltd., CRISIL Ltd. and ICRA Ltd.
The state-run lender will sell its shareholdings in the companies at an appropriate time depending on market conditions and available options, it said in a June 8 filing. The divestment is in line with the Indian government's agenda to reform Indian public sector banks.
Earlier in June, a senior government official told Bloomberg News that the bank might raise 130 billion rupees from the divestment of part of its 39.08% stake in PNB Housing Finance, sale of noncore assets and recovery of dues from companies undergoing insolvency proceedings. The news came after the company posted a net loss of 134.17 billion rupees for the three months ended March 31 due to higher provisions allocated for the alleged US$2 billion fraud.
S&P Global Market Intelligence and CRISIL are owned by S&P Global Inc.
As of June 8, US$1 was equivalent to 67.54 Indian rupees.
