Block deal alert: Bain Capital to offload 1.08% stake worth Rs 3,575 crore in Axis Bank

Private equity firm Bain Capital will offload 1.08 per cent stake of about 33.37 million shares in Axis Bank. The trade will be done Tuesday.

The price range for the share sale has been set at Rs 1,071 – Rs 1,076 a share, a discount of up to 0.47 per cent to Axis Bank’s last close of Rs 1,076 per share. 

BofA Securities India is the book-runner for the deal. Bain had bought stake in Axis Bank in November 2017.  It had previously sold a 1.1% stake in the private sector lender through open market transactions in December for about Rs 3,700 crore.

Shares of Axis Bank are down nearly 2 per cent year-to-date, underperforming the Nifty which has gained 4.3 per cent. 

April will see two trading holidays. As per the list of holidays on stock exchanges BSE and NSE, while the currency derivatives segment will be shut today on account of Gudi Padwa, it would be a business as usual for equity bourses.  With the proposed sale, Bain Capital will exit the bank completely.

This would still be a truncated week as the stock market will be closed on Thursday, April 11, on account of Id-Ul-Fitr (Ramzan Id). It would be shut on April 17 (Wednesday) for Ram Navami. 

In the immediate future, share market will also be closed on Wednesday, May 1, to commemorate the formation of the state (May 1, 1960).     On Monday, the BSE Sensex settled the day at 74,742.50, up 494.28 points or 0.67 per cent. Nifty advanced 152.60 points or 0.68 per cent to close at 22,666.30. 

Traders are advised to exercise caution with aggressive long positions at higher levels and consider profit-taking strategies, said Rajesh Bhosale, Technical Analyst at Angel One. This analyst sees immediate support for Nifty at 22,500-22,450.