UTI AMC to sell 49 pc stake through IPO

Leading mutual fund player UTI AMC on Wednesday said its board has approved a proposal to sell 49 per cent stake through an Initial Public Offer by the end of this fiscal.This will be the first-ever public offer by a mutual fund house in the country.

The four sponsor companies, State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, LIC and Bank of Baroda, own 25 per cent stake each in UTI AMC. Post-IPO, their combined holding will come down to 51 per cent.The decision to go for an IPO was taken by the company's board at its meeting yesterday. The government had earlier cleared the IPO proposal.

The mutual fund house was formed after splitting the then UTI following a fiasco in its flagship scheme, US-64, in 2001.he proceeds of the issue will be used to fuel the company's increasing business needs.

Banks, FIs' overseas M&A funding jumps three-fold

Indian corporate houses have stepped up the tempo for overseas mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in 2006-07. Keeping pace with the momentum, Indian banks, with extensive global branch network, have raised the volume of funding to Indian entities for M&As.

In 2006-07, the overseas M&A funding by state-owned banks and financial institutions - State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda (BOB) , Bank of India (BOI) and Export and Import Bank of India (Exim) -- was close to $2 billion, almost a three-fold increase over the previous financial year. Private sector major ICICI Bank bags the top slot. However, bank officials refused to divulge the numbers. SBI's direct funding was close to $1 billion, BOI ($450 million), BOB ($370 million) and Exim Bank (over $400 million).

The size of funding by Indian banks is small compared with their their global counterparts due to the small balance sheet size.ICICI Bank's deputy managing director Chanda Kochhar said her bank assistance stands on three strands - advisory, structuring the finance for M&A deal and underwriting and syndication of funds.In a particular deal ICICI takes about 25 per cent funding exposure on its book and the balance 75 per cent is syndicated, she said.

Read more in The Business Standard article.