SBI Cards IPO: Price band fixed at Rs 750 to Rs 755, employees to get discount of Rs 75 per share

State Bank of India said the price band of Rs 9,000-crore IPO of SBI Cards has been fixed at Rs 750 to  Rs 755 per share. Equity shares will be offered in SBI Cards IPO in a lot of 19 and in multiples of 19 equity shares thereafter. Eligible employees will be offered SBI Cards shares at a discount of Rs 75 per share. With an aim to garner Rs 9,000 crore, the share sale of SBI's credit card division will be the fifth-largest IPO ever. SBI Cards and Payment Services IPO will open on March 2 and bidding process will close on March 5.

SBI Cards plans to issue fresh shares worth Rs 500 crore and offer up to 13.05 crore shares for sale by promoters. Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) granted in-principal nod for the IPO of the SBI arm on February 11. SBI Cards and Payment Services is backed by State Bank of India and private equity firm Carlyle Group.

Also read: SBI Cards IPO likely to hit market in current quarter, says Rajnish Kumar

As part of the IPO process, Carlyle Group, and State Bank of India (SBI) will make partial exit from SBI Cards and Payment Services. SBI has 74% stake in its credit card unit. Carlyle Group, which holds 26% through its subsidiary CA Rover Holdings, will jointly sell 130.5 million shares. SBI and Carlyle will pare their stakes by 4% and 10% respectively. Kotak Mahindra Capital Company, SBI Capital Markets, DSP Merrill Lynch, Axis Capital, HSBC Securities and Capital Markets, and Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities are the book-running lead managers to the issue.

SBI Cards IPO: This clause will open more revenue sources for SBI

With the listing of SBI Cards, the firm will become the fifth group company under SBI Group to be listed on exchanges. Individual shareholders of SBI can apply under the retail (investment up to Rs 2 lakh) as well as shareholder category (investment up to Rs 2 lakh).

If a SBI shareholder is also an SBI employee, he or she is also eligible to apply in the category of employees (investment up to Rs 5 lakh). SBI Cards and Payment Services has 18 per cent market share next to HDFC Cards which holds 27 per cent market share. The company had 9.4 million outstanding cards as of the end of September. According to the draft prospectus, the company expects the number of credit cards to increase at an annual rate of 25 per cent per year.

By Aseem Thapliyal