Emirates NBD’s reported bid to take over IDBI Bank may face a tough challenge as Dutch banking group ING is believed to have also entered the fray.
ING is evaluating a return to India by buying a controlling stake in IDBI Bank, four years after it exited the country after selling its stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank, The Economic Times (ET) reported on Tuesday.
The ET report, however, was confusing about the status of ING submitting an expression of interest (EoI) for IDBI Bank.
ING mulls return to India
“One of the [unnamed] officials said ING has submitted, while the other said it would do so at a later stage,” the ET report said.
The deadline for submission of EoIs was January 7.
Earlier, media reports said Emirates NBD and Canada’s Fairfax Group have submitted their expression of interest (EOI) earlier this month to buy the 60.7 percent majority stake that is being offered by the Government of India and Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India.
Though it was not clear whether some of the prospective bidders, including ING, met the deadline, Indian media reports, citing official sources, said the government might entertain good offers that come in subsequently, as it seeks value maximisation.
The Secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), Ministry of Finance, had said in a tweet earlier that the government had received multiple EOIs for IDBI Bank and the sale process is now expected to move to the second stage.
The interested parties will now have to wait for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to vet the application received and determine if they meet the central bank’s ‘fit and proper’ criteria.
Emirates NBD’s reported bid for IDBI follows its acquisition of DenizBank, the largest private bank in Turkiye, in July 2019.
The acquisition helped the UAE bank to expand its presence to 13 countries and added over 17 million customers.
The news about Emirates NBD’s interest in the Indian bank came just a few days following the revelation that Abu Dhabi-based First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) had seriously considered buying Standard Chartered Bank.
IDBI Bank has a pan-India presence with 1,940 branches, 1,416 centers and 3,343 ATMs. The market cap, as of Friday at the close of the stock market, was INR634.93 billion ($7.72 billion).
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