State-owned Bank of Baroda (BoB) on Thursday said its board has approved selling up to 49% stake in wholly-owned subsidiary BoB Financial Solutions Ltd (BFSL).
“We advise that the board of directors of Bank of Baroda have approved for divestment up to 49 % of Bank’s shareholding in its 100% owned subsidiary i.e. BoB Financial Solutions Ltd, and issuance of an advertisement inviting expressions of interest from suitable investors and strategic partners to acquire shareholding of BoB in BFSL,” it said in a filing to the stock exchanges.
BoB Financial Solutions (earlier known as BoBcards Ltd) entered India’s credit card market in 1994, four years before SBI Card was launched but lagged its peer and other lenders in card issuances. However, it has grown its base in the last few years owing to an aggressive push.
“We arrived too early. We arrived at a time when there was no Cibil (credit bureau). We were very aggressive when the ecosystem for the Indian context was not prepared for a credit card like product. There was a huge default and the management took a call to press the pause button,” Shailendra Singh, managing director and chief executive of BoB Financial Solutions Ltd had told Mint in an interview in November 2021.
On Thursday, the bank said that details about the process of transaction and other relevant details will be published on 10 March.
