(Bloomberg) — State Bank of India will explore an initial public offering for its mutual fund joint venture, extending a record year for listings in the South Asian nation.
The country’s largest lender plans to sell a 6% stake in SBI Funds Management Pvt., it said in a statement Wednesday. The IPO will seek to raise about $1 billion, according to people with knowledge of the matter, unchanged from when Bloomberg News had first reported the planned transaction in February.
State Bank owns 63% of the fund manager and Amundi Asset Management holds the rest. Both partners will offload a combined 10% in the joint venture and are looking to list it early in the next financial year starting April, the people said, asking not to be identified as the deliberations are private.
With more than 6 trillion rupees ($79 billion) of assets end-September, SBI Funds is India’s biggest asset manager and reports the highest profit among State Bank’s unlisted units. Indian firms have raised more than $15 billion through IPOs this year, a record for the nation that has seen its main stock index rally 20% in one of Asia’s best performances.
The mutual fund’s IPO process was delayed by the deadly coronavirus wave that struck India in March, which hampered in-office operations, one of the people said, adding that final decisions on timing and valuation will be taken after underwriters are appointed.
State Bank, SBI Funds and Amundi didn’t respond to emails seeking comment.
(Updates to add details from third paragraph)
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