Lulu Group agrees to buy 4.99% stake in CSB; bank gets new MD
approval mandatory for any stake sale in CSB running into more than 1 per cent of its total shares, unlike other banks where an investor is free to buy up to 5 per cent equity.
Mumbai-based brokerage Edelwiess holds 4.99 per cent in the bank, while around 14 per cent is owned by three Hong Kong-based funds.
The Bangkok-based NRI businessman Chanrichawla has got many extensions from the RBI since 2010 to trim his stake. The current deadline to do so is March 31.
Though many times he could identify an investor in the past, the NRI failed to satisfy RBI with the prospective buyer. Still over the years, Chanrichawla has trimmed his stake to 18 per cent now from a high 34 per cent initially.
Santhanakrishnan described the Thrissur-born owner of the LuLu Group as a "good investor". Moreover, the CSB Chairman said, "Yusuffali is not interested in running the bank, which is a major plus point for the deal to secure the RBI mandate."
On whether Yusaffali's coming on board has the board approval and the blessings of the Church, he said "the board is backing Yusuffali, while the Church is fully supporting the move."
"The Archdiocese of Thrissur is only happy to let the Lulu Group Chairman pick the stake and help the bank grow," Santhanakrishnan said, adding his 'son of the soil' credential also helped get the Church back him.
While the Church does not have any direct holding in the bank, it has a say in the affairs of the lender,
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