Axis Bank OFS to open for retail investors on Wednesday

Government is divesting 3 per cent stake in the private lender held by SUUTI through an OFS issue at a discount to the current market price, at Rs. 689.52 per share. Retail investors can subscribe for the offer on February 13. 

The floor price for the offer for sale (OFS) is Rs. 689.52 per equity share of face value Rs. 2. This means the shares are available for a discount of 2.12 per cent compared to the stock price in Tuesday's morning session. At 10:00 hours, the stock of Axis Bank was trading at Rs. 704.50 per share, down Rs. 5.85 or 0.82 per cent on BSE. 

The government will raise nearly Rs. 5,316 crore from the stake sale. This move is in-line with the central government's planned target to divest Rs. 80,000 crore in this fiscal.

The Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (SUUTI) is selling 5,07,59,949 shares and additional option to sell upto 2,63,37,187 shares in case of oversubscription, i.e. total shares (Base Size + Green Shoe) 7,70,97,136 shares. 

The offer size for non-retail investors is 6,93,87,422, including green shoe option and is open on February 12 to 13, while for retail investors an offer size of 77,09,714 shares will open on Wednesday, February 13.

For Q3FY19, Axis Bank reported a stellar 131 per cent YoY growth in standalone profit at Rs. 1,681 crore as against Rs. 726 crore in Q3FY18. The bank's net interest income (NII) rose 18 per cent to Rs. 5,604 crore Q3FY19 as against Rs. 4,732 crore in Q3FY18.