Private sector lender Lakshmi Vilas Bank approves merger with Indiabulls Housing Finance

Private sector lender Lakshmi Vilas Bank on Friday approved a scheme of amalgamation with Indiabulls Housing Finance Limited. Lakshmi Vilas Bank shareholders will get 14 shares of Indiabulls Housing Finance for 100 equity shares held. According to The Economic Times, Lakshmi Vilas Bank has total assets of Rs 40,429 crore and capital and reserve of Rs 2,328 crore as of 31 March, 2018, Indiabulls Housing Finance had total assets of Rs 1,31,903 crore and consolidated net worth of Rs 17,792 crore at the same date. [caption id=“attachment_4224343” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image.[/caption] Indiabulls Housing Finance, in a statement issued to stock exchanges, said that the amalgamated entity will have a net worth of Rs 19,472 crore with 14,302 employees. The new entity will have a loan book of 1,23,393 core, said the statement. Shares of Lakshmi Vilas Bank rose 5 percent on Friday on the report of the merger. The scrip surged 4.98 percent to hit a high of Rs 92.75. The shares of Indiabulls Housing Finance were trading 0.67 percent higher at Rs 904.35 on BSE. The Chennai-headquartered Lakshmi Vilas Bank reported widening of its net loss to Rs 373.49 crore for third quarter ended December 2018, as bad loans more than doubled year-on-year.  It had posted a net loss of Rs 39.23 crore during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. Sequentially, there was a net loss of Rs 132.31 crore in the second quarter ended September 2018.

Total income also fell to Rs 762.48 crore in October-December 2018 as compared with Rs 817.51 crore, the bank said in a regulatory filing. The bank’s gross bad loans more than doubled to 13.95 percent of gross loans during the quarter, against 5.66 percent by in the year-ago quarter.