Fairfax Financial to buy 60.78% of IDBI Bank stake
Fairfax Financial, a Canadian investment giant, is set to acquire a majority stake in India's IDBI Bank by March 2027 unless regulators give the green light even sooner.
The deal, worked on since October 2022 after years of due diligence, will see Fairfax buying 60.78% of the bank for about ₹52,878 crore (about $5.6 billion).
IDBI restructuring ends, government stake 15%
This marks the end of IDBI Bank's long restructuring phase.
After the sale, the Indian government's stake drops sharply from 45.5% to 15%, and LIC's share falls to 19%.
Fairfax says it will fund the buyout using its own cash and support from companies like Go Digit and IIFL Capital (no heavy borrowing involved).
The only thing left? Approvals from the Reserve Bank of India for the transaction and from the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India for the combination before everything is official.