The long awaited initial public offer (IPO) of 100 per cent-government owned Punjab and Sind Bank is now expected only in the next fiscal year, while United Bank of India, another wholly owned state entity might go the market as early as February 2010 as it has received the required government approvals, industry officials said.
Punjab and Sind Bank now expects to hit the market only around May or June next year, as it wants to go public with the full accounts of the current financial year in place, which is expected to aid valuation-related issues in the dressing up for the IPO.
The Punjab and Sind Bank issue was part of the government’s disinvestment plan for 25 state firms unveiled last month.
“We want to go for an IPO only during mid-2010 once we get our financial results for the current fiscal as well. We are not in any hurry,” a senior official of the bank on condition of anonymity told Hindustan Times.
The IPO by Kolkata-based United Bank of India is expected to bring down the government stakes in the bank to about 84 per cent.