ICICI Bank, India's No. 2 lender, is in talks to buy a holding in Bank of Rajasthan from the Tayals, who control the small private-sector bank, the the Economic Times reported on Thursday.
Bank of Rajasthan has a market value of $324 million, and ICICI has indicated it is willing to pay more than the market price for the stake, it said.
“There are differences on valuations and talks have not progressed … a deal could be sometime away,” the paper quoted a a senior banker familiar with the negotiations as saying.
A spokesman for ICICI refused to comment on the report, while officials at Bank of Rajasthan could not immediately be reached. The Tayals have been under pressure from the central bank, which had appointed consulting firms in March to conduct special audit of the books and accounts of Bank of Rajasthan.
Source: Reuters