Union Bank to raise 300 Crores

State-owned Union Bank of India plans to raise a minimum of Rs 300 crore through a domestic Tier I bond issue before the end of this financial year.The bank plans to issue the bonds domestically, mostly when interest rates are lower in November.

The bank needs the capital to keep up with Basel-II requirements. Union Bank’s capital adequacy ratio was at 11.55% as of September 2007. The additional capital will take the ratio closer to 12%, a bank official said

Read more in The DNA Money article.

Bank of India to have 51 pc stake in life insurance JV

Public-sector Bank of India, which has formalised an agreement with Dai-Ichi of Japan for setting up a Rs 250-crore life insurance firm, will have a 51 per cent stake in the joint venture, a top bank official said on Friday.

Dai-Ichi, the sixth biggest life insurer in Japan, will have a 26 per cent stake in the JV, while another partner Union Bank of India will hold 23 per cent, BOI Executive Director K R Kamath told a press meet here.

The name of the company, is likely to be 'Star Union Dai-Ichi' and the registration process was going on, he said.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Corporation Bank bids Rs 850/shr for Maruti stake

Enthused by the oversubscription to its offer to sell its remaining 10.27% equity in Maruti Udyog (MUL), the country’s largest car maker, the government hopes to raise around Rs 2,500 crore from the auction. The total number of bids received were for around 3,59,00,000 shares as against 2,96,79,709 shares on offer (1.21 times the subscription).

A Finance Ministry official said the auction process is likely to be completed tomorrow itself at a meeting of an empowered group of ministers (eGoM), which is overseeing the sale. The Maruti scrip was trading at Rs 802.85 towards close of trade on BSE, up from the previous close of Rs 800.

Financial bids for the shares, at a floor price of Rs 760, were deposited today by 36 of the 39 companies that expressed interest to participate in the auction. The highest bid of Rs 850 per share for a lot of 1,00,000 shares came in from public sector Corporation Bank. The lowest bid of Rs 765 came from the Union Bank of India.

As many 20 public sector banks, insurance firms and mutual funds put in bids, along with private sector entities like HDFC among others. State Bank of India and a couple of its associates, IDBI, GIC and Canara Bank also participated in the auction.

Read more in The Business Standard article.