Bank of Maharashtra eyes acquisitions
State-owned Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) is eyeing acquisitions, preferably in the South or the North.The Pune-headquartered bank had put in an expression of interest recently to acquire United Western Bank (UWB).
“We were one among the 17 suitors for UWB. This clearly shows that we would be interested taking up opportunities for inorganic growth (acquisitions),” said MD Mallya, chairman and managing director, BoM. BoM has the capacity to take over banks with a business of up to Rs 10,000 crore.
With a strong presence in Maharashtra, BoM would find it attractive to acquire a bank in the South or the North. Moreover, as BoM is focussing on retail business, it would find synergy with banks that have a strong retail base. BoM has targetted a 25% growth in business during FY07.
The total business of the bank is projected to touch Rs 55,000 crore compared to Rs 45,000 crore in FY06. Accelerated growth in low-cost deposits, quality growth in credit, increase in fee-based income and a special recovery drive to reduce the level of impaired assets is expected to improve the bank’s bottomline. It expects to enhance its share in retail credit to around 22% of the total advances.
compared to 13% in FY06. The focus will be on home loans. The bank also plans to add 10 lakh new customers to its existing base of 10.5m customers. Besides, it has also targetted a cash recovery of around Rs 200 crore from stressed assets.
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