Reliance Capital, the financial services arm of Reliance Group, has increased its stake in Kochi-based Federal Bank. Federal Bank is often in the news as a potential takeover target as the old generation private sector bank with sizable presence in southern India does not have any domestic or foreign promoters.
?It has always been our mission to create a world class Reliance bank,? group chairman Anil Ambani was quoted as saying at the annual shareholders meet of Reliance Capital in September last.
The group is reportedly waiting for Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to spell out its guidelines for the entry of corporate houses into the banking sector as well as the ownership structure of the private sector banks.
Federal Bank, in a notification to regulators, said Reliance Capital bought 1,715,870 shares of the bank aggregating to 1% of its outstanding share capital from the open market.
Post-acquisition, Reliance Capital?s stake in Federal Bank had moved up to 2.43%.