Premji Invest, the family office of Wipro founder Azim Premji, is in advanced talks to acquire a majority stake in Nainital Bank, which is a subsidiary of the publicly owned Bank of Baroda, three people aware of the discussions said.
The proposed investment is likely to value the Uttarakhand-based lender at around Rs 800 crore, they added.
“Premji Invest has signed a term sheet and the due diligence process is over. However, the final decision is yet to be made on the acquisition,” according to one person cited above.
“In the first tranche, around 51% shares will be sold and eventually the remaining ownership will be (divested),” sources said.
Public sector lender Bank of Baroda, which owns around 98% of Nainital Bank, is expected to divest its entire shareholding.
Bank of Baroda did not respond to ET’s queries. Premji Invest said it did not have any comments to offer.
Tech-first Player Sought
The Wipro billionaire’s investment arm is one of the most active domestic investors in the Indian startup and technology sector with more than $10 billion of assets under management. It holds significant stakes in insurance marketplace Policybazaar, eyewear retailer Lenskart, credit startup Kreditbee, among many others.
While Premji Invest owns shares in non-banking finance company TVS Credit, insurance major ICICI Prudential Life, and payment infrastructure company FSS, this will be its first investment in a bank.
Tech startups and banks
Last year, Bengaluru-based fintech Slice secured regulatory clearance to merge with Northeast Small Finance Bank. Elsewhere, BharatPe snagged 49% shareholding in Unity Small Finance Bank in partnership with financial services major Centrum.
According to regulatory disclosures, Nainital Bank operates around 168 branches across five states — Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Haryana. As of September 2023, the bank had given out loans of Rs 4,654 crore, while total deposits amounted to Rs 7,809 crore.
“The RBI was keen on bringing on board a tech-first player to participate in the Nainital Bank divestment plan. The reason for that was to push a tech transformation at the lender. Many other fintechs and investors were also in the fray for picking up the stake up for sale,” said a senior fintech industry executive who had evaluated the deal.
On October 6, 2023, tech news website Techcrunch had reported that stock broking giant Zerodha, digital payments company MobiKwik, along with other players had shown interest in acquiring Nainital Bank.
