Syndicate Bank to go for second public issue

Bangalore: Syndicate Bank proposed to come with its second public issue of Rs 50 crore within the next six months. Briefing newsmen after the annual general meeting yesterday, the bank's chairman and managing director, Michael Bastian, said that the pricing of the issue had not yet been decided.

The issue would bring down the government's stake in the bank to about 66.5 per cent from the current 73.5 per cent. The issue would be for meeting the proposed expansion in risk weighted assets during the year 2004-05. The bank has targeted a business, of Rs 85,000 crore for the year comprising of Rs 30,000 crore as advances.

The bank would also be paying out a dividend of 10 per cent based on the good results he said. This would mean that the total dividend by the bank for the year 2003-04 was 20 per cent, inclusive of the interim dividend paid out in October 2003.

The bank, during the last financial year recorded a net profit of Rs 434 crore, up 26 per cent from Rs 344 crore in 2002-03. However, the operating profits of the bank went up by 70 per cent from Rs 619 crore in 2002-03 to Rs 1,054 crore in 2003-04.