J&K Bank board approves raising up to Rs 150 cr via employee stock purchase scheme

NEW DELHI: Jammu & Kashmir Bank on Friday said its board has approved the proposal to raise up to Rs 150 crore by allotting shares to employees.

"The board of directors in its meeting on June 18, 2021, approved the issuance and allotment of up to 7.5 crore shares of face value of Re 1 each aggregating up to Rs 150 crore (including premium) in one or more tranches to eligible employees of the bank," J&K Bank said in a regulatory filing on Friday.

The state-owned lender said the board's nod is subject to shareholders' and regulatory approvals.

The compensation committee of the bank's board earlier this week had recommended to the board to raise up to Rs 150 crore by issuing shares under the employee share purchase scheme.

Earlier to this, the board had already approved raising of Rs 500 crore by issuance of equity shares to the government of Jammu & Kashmir, the promoter and the major shareholder of the bank.

The lender said it is also in the advanced stage of talks to raise money through a follow-on public offer (FPO) or qualified institutional placement (QIP) of shares.

"The process of raising capital under tier-2, FPO/QIP is also at an advanced stage. Amid the stress in economy induced by the second wave of COVID-19, the capital mobilisation will help us in furthering business growth and to ward off COVID-19-related stress in the bank's asset quality," said the lender.

The bank said this will also enhance its capacity to lend to productive and developing sectors of regional economy.

Besides, the board also approved the appointment of Pratik D Punjabi as the bank's chief financial officer (CFO) for three year, "to be effective from the date of his actual joining", said the lender.