Three PSBs – Union Bank, Bank of India and Indian Bank – to divest stakes in ASREC (India)

The investors should also not been debarred or restrained by the Reserve Bank of India or any other regulatory authority from making investments in India.

By Manish M Suvarna

Three state-owned lenders – Union Bank of India, Bank of India and Indian Bank – have jointly invited bids to sell up to 8,84,99,900 equity shares, constituting up to 90.31% of the total equity share capital of ASREC (India).

Interested bidders have to submit their expressions of interest by July 30. It may be extended from time to time, the notice said. SBI Capital Market has been appointed as an advisor for the proposed stake sale.

The lenders have set qualification criteria for potential investors, such as they should have net worth of not less than Rs 100 crore or assets under management of not less than Rs 500 crore.

The investors should also not been debarred or restrained by the Reserve Bank of India or any other regulatory authority from making investments in India.

“SBICAP/sellers reserves the right to reject formation of any consortium without being under any obligation to provide reasons for the same,” the notice said.

ASREC is an asset reconstruction company in which Indian Bank, Bank of India, Union Bank of India, LIC and Deutsche Bank are the shareholders.

ASREC (India)’s annual report of 2019-20 showed that Indian Bank holds 38.26% stake and Bank of India and Union Bank of India hold just over 26% each. The other two stakeholders are LIC and Deutsche Bank which hold 9.18% and 0.51%, respectively.

ASREC (India), a public limited company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956, has been granted certificate of registration by the RBI on October 11, 2004 to carry out activities under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act 2002.

The company acquires non-performing assets (NPAs) from banks and financial institutions at mutually agreed prices with the objective of maximising returns through innovative resolutions strategies.