IDBI Banks sells off its BKC office to SEBI worth 900crore

By Realty Quarter Bureau

IDBI Bank has informed the stock exchanges that it has sold its office building in Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) to Sebi for Rs 900 crore. The move is part of measures taken by the bank to sell its non-core assets. This is the biggest real estate transaction in BKC since 2013.

The bank owned a 2-lakh-sqft office space (3.21-lakh super built-up area) in BKC, close to the headquarters of the markets regulator. The bank will now be moving some of its offices to its headquarters at Cuffe Parade, where it has vacant space.

The transaction took place on the penultimate day of the fiscal, following an approval from the regulator’s board last month. Sebi has been on the lookout for an additional office in BKC to house its growing workforce. In the absence of space, the regulator has stationed its market intermediaries regulation and supervision department at Nariman Point in south Mumbai, while its enquiry and adjudication officers are spread out in BKC.

IDBI, meanwhile, has been cutting down operations and selling non-core assets. The bank has placed its life insurance subsidiary, IDBI Federal Life Insurance, on the block. Several private companies have expressed interest in acquiring the life insurer as this will provide them access to the bank’s distribution network. The bank has already sold stake in several companies, including the NSE, CCIL and NSDL.

With bad loans of over Rs 50,000 crore, which are nearly 25% of the bank’s assets, IDBI Bank is desperately in need of capital. The bank reported a net loss of Rs 1,542 crore for the quarter ended December 2017. It is currently facing prompt corrective action from the RBI.