Merger to add $120 bn to asset base: SBI

Mumbai, Aug 20 (PTI) State Bank of India today saidthe ongoing merger of five of its associate banks andBharatiya Mahila Bank will add Rs 8 trillion or USD 120billion to its assets and will create a banking behemoth withglobal scale. The bank also said the merger of State Banks ofBikaner & Jaipur (SBBJ), Travancore (SBT), Patiala (SBP),Hyderabad (SBH) and Mysore (SBM), and also of Bhartiya MahilaBank, a bank for women set up in November 2013, will lead to a36 per cent increase in the SBI’s total assets at Rs 30trillion or about USD 447 billion. The mergers will dwarf ICICI Bank assets to justone-fourth of SBI and will also catapult the bank into the top50 banks globally, the bank said. The combined entity will have network of over 24,000branches with 2,70,000 employees and 58,000 ATMs servingserving over 50 crore customers. This Thursday, the board of SBI had cleared the mergeplan and had finalised the share swap agreement under which anSBBJ shareholder will get 28 shares of SBI (Re 1 each) forevery 10 shares (Rs 10 each). Stated differently, the ratio is 1:2:8. Similarly, SBMand SBT shareholders will get 22 shares each of SBI for every10 shares they hold. In the case of Bharatiya Mahila Bank, 4,42,31,510shares of SBI will be swapped for every 100 crore of the BMBshare having a face value of Rs 10. The other two unlistedsubsidiaries are fully owned by SBI. Abizer Diwanji, partner and national leader forfinancial services at EY which advised the share swap deal forSBI, said, "the ratio will be acceptable to all shareholders." Last month, the Cabinet had cleared the merger plan. SBI has close to 16,500 branches, including 191foreign offices spread across 36 countries, while the fivesubsidiaries have around 6,800 branches. The mergers will allow the SBI to leverage itsoperational synergies, reach out to new clients and improvemarket share by ensuring a better reach through enlargedpresence, the bank said in a statement. (MORE) PTI BEN ARS ABKBAS