Punjab National Bank QIP Closes With Nearly 5% Discount To Floor Price

Punjab National Bank, the country's second-largest state-run lender, completed its share sale to institutional investors on Thursday. The board issued shares under the qualified institutional placement route at Rs 103.75 apiece, a discount of 4.96% to the floor price of Rs 109.16, according to an exchange filing.

The lender aimed to raise up to Rs 7,500 crore.

Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors Ltd., ICICI Securities Ltd., IDBI Capital Markets & Securities Ltd., and IIFL Securities Ltd. were among the lead managers to the issue.

Notably, Punjab National Bank had secured the nod from its board of directors in Dec. 2023 to raise up to Rs 7,500 crore in fiscal 2024–25 in one or more tranches through QIP, follow-on public offer, or any other mode or combination thereof.

The fundraising plan had received approval from the lender's shareholders at the extraordinary general meeting called on March 5.

Shares of Punjab National Bank settled 2.2% higher at Rs 107.3 apiece on the BSE, compared to a 0.78% climb in the benchmark Sensex.

Year-to-date, the stock has risen by 12%, whereas the surge has been sharper at 35% in the past 12 months.

Six out of the 18 analysts tracking the company have a "buy" rating on the stock, five suggest a "hold" and seven have a "sell", according to Bloomberg data. The average 12-month analyst price target of Rs 116.92 implies a potential upside of 9%.