Bandhan Bank gets Competition Commission approval to acquire Gruh Finance

Mumbai: Kolkata-based Bandhan Bank on Tuesday said it has received approval of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for the proposed acquisition of Gruh Finance. Gruh Finance, the affordable housing finance arm of HDFC Ltd, was taken over in January by Bandhan Bank in a share-swap deal. Last month, the private sector lender received a nod in this regard from the Reserve Bank of India. [caption id=“attachment_4448051” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] “The Competition Commission of India has by way of its letter dated 15 April, 2019, intimated that CCI, at its meeting held on 15 April, 2019, considered the proposed combination and approved the same,” the bank said in a regulatory filing. As part of the deal, Bandhan Bank has to transfer 14.9 percent stake to HDFC for merging Gruh with itself. The deal will allow Bandhan Bank’s promoter Bandhan Financial Holdings’ shareholding to come down to about 61 percent from about 82 percent, and HDFC to hold around 15 percent in the merged entity from about 57 percent in Gruh. The swap ratio for the amalgamation would be 568 shares of Bandhan Bank for every 1,000 shares of Gruh Finance. Shares of Bandhan Bank closed at Rs 558.10 apiece on the BSE, up 4.72 percent.