HDFC Bank to acquire Centurion Bank of Punjab
HDFC Bank, Centurion swap ratio fixed at 1:29

HDFC Bank Board on 25th February 2008 approved the acquisition of Centurion Bank of Punjab (CBoP) for Rs 9,510 crore in one of the largest merger in the financial sector in India. CBoP shareholders will get one share of HDFC Bank for every 29 shares held by them.

This will be HDFC Bank’s second acquisition after Times Bank. HDFC Bank will jump to the 7th position among commercial banks from 10th after the merger. However, the merged entity would become second largest private sector bank.

The merger will strengthen HDFC Bank's distribution network in the northern and the southern regions. CBoP has close to 170 branches in the north and around 140 branches in the south. CBoP has a concentrated presence in the in the Indian states of Punjab and Kerala. The combined entity will have a network of 1148 branches. HDFC will also acquire a strong SME (small and medium enterprises) portfolio from CBoP. There is not much of overlapping of HDFC Bank and CBoP customers.

The entire process of the merger would take about four months for completion. The merged entity will be known as HDFC Bank. Rana Talwar's Sabre Capital would hold less than 1 per cent stake in the merged entity from 3.48 in CBoP, while Bank Muscat's holding will decline to less than 4 per cent from over 14 per cent in CBoP. HDFC shareholding falls to will fall from 23.28 per cent to around 19 per cent in the merged entity.

Mr Rana Talwar, Chairman of Centurion Bank, has been offered a seat on the Board as non-executive director and Mr Shailendra Bhandari, Managing Director, Centurion Bank, has been invited to join as the Executive Director on the board post merger.

According to HDFC Bank Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Aditya Puri, Integration will be smooth as there is no overlap. In an interview, he mentioned that at 40% growth rate there will be no lay-offs. The integration of the second rung officials should be smooth as there is hardly any overlap.

The boards of the two banks will meet again on February 28 to consider the draft scheme of amalgamation, which will be subject to regulatory approvals. HDFC Bank will consider making a preferential offer to its parent Housing Development Finance Corp Ltd (HDFC). The move would allow HDFC to maintain the same level of shareholding in the bank.

S& P Ratings on HDFC Bank unaffected by proposed merger ... Click here
Fitch Ratings on HDFC Bank affirmed with a Stable Outlook ... Click here


Lord Krishna Bank merge with Centurion Bank of Punjab... Click here
Bank of Punjab (BoP) and Centurion Bank (CB) merge... Click here
State Bank of Saurashtra to merge with State Bank of India ... Click here
Cross-border banking consolidation continues... Click here
Read about M&A in Indian Banking Industry ... Click here

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