班加罗尔，10月15日 - 在犹豫不决了十年后，新德里似乎已准备好将检查IDBI银行私有化事项从待办清单中划掉。加拿大的Fairfax Financial将以5290亿卢比（56亿美元）收购该贷款机构61%的股份，这将成为印度迄今为止规模最大的跨境银行交易。如果政府不阻碍他，这将为该买方的创始人Prem Watsa提供一个机会，以建立一家领先的私营部门机构。
BENGALURU, Oct 15 - After a decade of dithering, New Delhi looks poised to check the privatisation of IDBI Bank off its to-do list. Canada's Fairfax Financial is set to buy 61% of the lender for 529 billion rupees ($5.6 billion) in India's largest cross-border bank deal. It offers the buyer’s founder, Prem Watsa, a chance to build a leading private sector institution if the government stays out of his way.
新德里首次提出将其在IDBI的持股从80%降至50%以下的想法是在2016年。政府和印度国家控制的人寿保险公司（LIC）将各自剥离大约30%的股份。他们将在周三（即官员们将Prem Watsa的公司命名为首选“战略买家”的前一天）以较该日最后收盘价低10%的价格，部分套现这些交易薄且波动较大的股份。
It was 2016 when New Delhi first floated the idea of cutting its stake in IDBI from 80% to below 50%. The government and state-controlled Life Insurance Corporation of India will each offload a roughly 30% stake. They’ll partly cash out of the thinly traded and volatile shares at a 10% discount to the last closing price on Wednesday, the day before officials named Prem Watsa’s company as their preferred “strategic buyer”.
目前尚未具有约束力的协议，但如果交易达成，这将对一家曾是全国性资产质量危机中受冲击最严重的银行之一而言，是一次非凡的全圈回归。大约在2019年，IDBI的不良贷款总额几乎占其贷款组合的三分之一。这促使政府推动LIC注入2160亿卢比（按当前汇率计算为23亿美元），以将其持股从2019年的8%提升至51%。如今，不良贷款仅占IDBI账面贷款的2.3%。
There’s no binding agreement but if the deal goes through, it'll be a remarkable full circle for a bank that was one of the hardest hit by a nationwide asset quality crisis. Around 2019, IDBI's gross non-performing loans stood at nearly one-third of its portfolio. That prompted the government to nudge LIC to pump in 216 billion rupees, or $2.3 billion at current exchange rates, to raise its 8% stake to 51% in 2019. Today, bad loans are just 2.3% of IDBI’s book.
Fairfax看来有利条件来在此基础上继续推进。它将支付大约相当于IDBI账面价值1倍的倍数。一家运营良好且技术更先进的私营部门银行，如ICICI银行，通常能获得2.5倍的估值。Fairfax将把IDBI与其非银行贷款机构IIFL Capital Services（价值11亿美元）和保险公司Digit合并，以交叉销售银行、保险和金融服务产品。
Fairfax looks well placed to build on that repair. It’s paying a multiple of around 1 times IDBI’s trailing book value. A well-run private sector bank with better tech savvy like ICICI Bank commands 2.5 times. Fairfax will combine IDBI with its non-bank lender $1.1 billion IIFL Capital Services and insurer Digit to cross-sell banking, insurance and financial services products.
对于LIC而言，该交易使其2019年投资实现了7.44%的年化价格回报。虽然这低于同期印度基准Nifty 50股指所提供的10%回报，但对新德里而言，这并不是一个糟糕的代价，以防止一家银行倒闭。
For LIC, the deal crystallises a 7.44% annualised price return on its 2019 investment. That is less than ideal compared to the 10% yielded by India’s benchmark Nifty 50 stock Index over the period but for New Delhi, it is not a terrible price to pay to stop a bank from going under.
卖家还将以两种方式获利。剥离IDBI将为政府带来一定的财政缓解，以应对油价飙升，并帮助其首次在七年内实现年度剥离目标。他们还将有机会提升回报：LIC和政府将退出董事会，但将保留合计34%的股份，这一比例高于Fairfax作为印度银行私人所有者所受的26%投票权监管上限。只要官员能够抵制干预，这将带来相当大的上升空间。关注Ujjaini Dutta的报道。
The sellers will gain in two more ways. Offloading IDBI will bring some fiscal relief for the government firefighting surging oil prices and help it hit its annual target for divestment for the first time in seven years. They'll also have a chance to improve their returns: LIC and the government will withdraw from the board but retain a combined stake of 34%, higher than the 26% regulatory cap on voting rights Fairfax will be subject to as a private owner of an Indian bank. That offers plenty of upside so long as officials can resist meddling. Follow Ujjaini Dutta on