New Delhi, Dec 14 (PTI) The government on Wednesday extended the deadline to submit preliminary bids for the IDBI Bank privatisation till January 7.

The government and LIC together are looking to sell 60.72 per cent of IDBI Bank and had invited bids from potential buyers in October. The last date for submitting an Expression of Interest (EoI) or preliminary bids was December 16.

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Following that transaction advisors received requests for an extension of the deadline.

In a notice, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) said the last date for submission of EoI is January 7, 2023, instead of December 16, 2022.

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Also, the last date for submission of physical copies of the EoIs has been extended to January 14, from December 23.

The government and the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) hold 94.71 per cent of IDBI Bank and are looking to offload 60.72 per cent in the state-owned bank. The successful bidder will have to make an open offer of acquisition of 5.28 per cent of the public shareholding.

Earlier, DIPAM had said that the potential buyers should have a minimum net worth of Rs 22,500 crore and must report a net profit in three out of the last five years to qualify to bid for the bank. In addition, a maximum of four members would be permitted in a consortium.

Also, the successful bidder would be required to mandatorily lock in at least 40 per cent of the equity capital for five years from the date of acquisition.

Shares of IDBI bank were trading at Rs 57.15 apiece, down 1.64 per cent over the previous close on the BSE.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)