The Mahindra Group is looking to buy a strategic stake in RBL Bank and has likely acquired a 4% stake in the Mumbai-based private lender, according to a report by CNBC-TV18.
The report quoted sources saying that the Mahindra Group is keen on increasing its stake to 15-20% in RBL Bank, if it gets approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to become a strategic shareholder of RBL Bank.
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“Mahindra Group is excited about synergies with RBL Bank across group entities,” sources were quoted as saying by CNBC-TV18. Mahindra Group is betting in the financial service sector only through the group company Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services.
Meanwhile, RBL Bank had tough last few years with sudden exit of Vishwavir Ahuja as its CEO and MD and RBI appointing its own official on the board in December 2021. This has led the private lender under the lens over its financial and asset quality strength.
According to the CNBC report, the shares of RBL Bank has risen over 2.5 times over the last 12 months. “We sense that the regulator is looking for a long term solution for RBL Bank,” sources said.
Gopal Jain and Sivakumar Gopalan were appointed as non-executive directors in August 2022. Barings Asia owns a 10 percent stake in RBL Bank, Gaja Capital and CDC are other key investors in the company.
The shares of RBL were trading 4.28% higher at Rs 232.85 per share at the time of writing this article.