On DSE, the stock touched a high of Rs 16 (which is 60 per cent premium to the offer price) and some profit booking saw the scrip closing at a lower level of Rs 15.1. The stock opened at Rs 14, which is also the day's low and nearly 3,100 shares were traded during the day.

TimesBank is the first private sector bank in the recent past (after ICICI Bank and IndusInd Bank) to provide an excellent exit opportunity to the investors. Investors face several crores of capital erosion in other private sector banks like Jammu & Kashmir Bank, UTI Bank, City Union Bank, South Indian Bank and IDBI Bank.

The investor interest in TimesBank wasexpected as the Rs 35-crore IPO was oversubscribed around six times. The offer price of Rs 10 was very attractive as the bank had offered shares at a price-earning multiple of 3.69 and the bank has strong growth prospects. The bank is likely to enjoy a better discounting once it announces its first-half performance for the current fiscal. The bank has projected a net profit of Rs 46.13 crore on a total income of Rs 397.57 crore. On an expanded equity of Rs 135 crore, the the projected EPS for fiscal 2000 is Rs 3.41. This discounts the current market price of Rs 15.1 by a multiple of 4.42.