Saraswat Bank on a buying spree

The Mumbai-headquartered Saraswat Co-operative Bank is on a buying binge and plans to acquire seven co-operative banks by the end of the current financial year.

Saraswat Bank director Eknath Thakur told media persons on Thursday that talks are in the final stage with the Vadodara- (Gujarat) based Anyonya Co-operative Bank and a deal will be finalised ‘soon.’ He, however, did not name the six other banks in the acquisition list. “All of them are from Maharashtra, including the one from Pune,” he said, adding that the bank will effectively make 10 acquisitions this financial year to reach a member base of one lakh.

The two Sangli- (Maharashtara) based co-operative banks - Annasaheb Karale Janata Sahakari Bank and Murgharajendra Sahakari Bank - will be merged with Saraswat Bank this Saturday, he said.

While the former has 11 branches with a deposit base of Rs 79 crore and advances of Rs 57 crore, the latter has 11 branches, with a deposit base of Rs 70 crore and advances of Rs 53 crore. The two together have losses of about Rs 40 crore, Thakur said.

Post merger, Saraswat Bank will have 127 branches, a deposit base of Rs 9,039 crore and advances of Rs 6,493 crore, he said.

M&A deals in co-operative banking sector on the rise

Merger and Acquisition deals, common among corporates today, are also making inroads in the urban cooperative banking sector.As per figures available with the National Federation of Urban Cooperative Banks, 19 co-op banks have already merged with stronger banks while nine more are in the pipeline.

Banks like Saraswat Bank, Shamrao Vithal Co-op Bank and Cosmos Bank have been the major acquirers so far.The co-operative banking sector with over 1,850 banks and total business of about Rs 2,00,000 crore is infested with weakness.
According to Krishna, earlier, there was no organised attempt to revive the weak banks. They would be subjected to many restrictions and eventually go into liquiditation.

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