Lakshmi Vilas Bank shares surge on non-binding merger offer

Shares of Lakshmi Vilas Bank zoomed nearly 10 per cent on Friday after the private sector lender said it has received a non-binding offer from non-banking finance firm Clix Group for a merger.

The stock jumped 8.43 per cent to close at Rs 19.30 on the BSE. During the day, it zoomed 16 per cent to Rs 20.65.

On the NSE, it gained 9.83 per cent to settle at Rs 19.55.

In volume terms, 9.24 lakh shares were traded on the BSE and over 75 lakh on the NSE.   Lakshmi Vilas Bank on Thursday said it has received a non-binding offer from Aion-backed Clix Group for a merger.

The old-generation Chennai-based private sector bank, which has been on the lookout for an investor and capital for long, was jolted on September 25 when its shareholders voted out seven directors of its board, including CEO S Sundar and promoters K R Pradeep and N Saiprasad.

Following this, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) appointed a three-member team to run the bank under Meeta Makhan as chairperson and Shakti Sinha and Satish Kumar Kalra as members.

In an exchange filing on Thursday, the bank’s Chief Financial Officer K Hariharan said, “further to the process of considering and evaluating the proposed amalgamation with Clix Capital Services, Clix Finance and Clix Housing Finance, we are glad to inform that the bank has received an indicative non-binding offer from the Clix Group.” The Clix Group is backed by private equity major Aion Capital.