The Hindu Business Line : Over a dozen banks in fray for UWB takeover

At the best of times, United Western Bank (UWB) would never have dreamt of a stream of suitors at its offices in Satara. At the worst of times, UWB has at least 12 suitors scrambling to RBI for ownership.

Today was the last day for bids. More than a dozen banks at the last count have submitted their proposals to take over the sick United Western Bank. The RBI is likely to take a decision shortly, with some suggesting the weekend as the outer limit.

Rehab scheme

In a bid to revive the ailing UWB, a `reconstruction scheme' to infuse capital to the tune of Rs 350 crore by State-promoted SICOM Ltd, Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd (HDFC) and Infrastructure Development Finance Company Ltd (IDFC) was submitted to the Reserve Bank of India on Thursday. The scheme was approved by the board of UWB on Wednesday.

As per the proposal, HDFC will infuse up to Rs 70 crore jointly with any one or more of its subsidiary companies and IDFC will chip in Rs 35 crore.

SICOM, which holds a stake of 10 per cent in UWB will probably have to raise the rest of the Rs 245-crore along with the Government of Maharashtra.

Recent additions

Corporation Bank and UCO Bank became the recent additions to the chase list. The other banks, which have expressed their interest to the RBI, include ICICI Bank, Canara Bank, Andhra Bank, Allahabad Bank, Federal Bank, IDBI Bank, Saraswat Co-operative Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Citibank.

The UWB scrip ended on Thursday at Rs 19.10 on the BSE, down from Rs 22.55 — its close on September 1 before the moratorium was declared.

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