Axis Bank Regs Regulatory News (AXB)

24 Feb 2006 15:20

HSBC Holdings PLC24 February 2006 HSBC SELLS 7.19 PER CENT OF UTI BANK SHARES HSBC has today sold 7.19 per cent of the shares of UTI Bank Limited for aconsideration of INR6.38 billion (approximately US$142 million), taking itsstake in the Indian bank to 4.99 per cent. The shares were sold at an average price of INR318.61 per share through theMumbai stock exchange. Niall S K Booker, Group General Manager and Chief Executive Officer of HSBC inIndia, said: "UTI Bank is a profitable, well-managed private bank in India, andour purchase of shares in it has been a successful financial investment. In linewith current regulations and to take advantage of the present market strength,we are taking the opportunity to reduce our stake and realise some of the gainsof our investment." Notes to editors 1. HSBC in IndiaThe Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited in India offers a fullrange of banking and financial services from its 43 branches in the 22 cities ofAhmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cochin, Coimbatore, Gurgaon,Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Mumbai, Mysore, Nagpur, New Delhi,Noida, Pune, Thane, Trivandrum, Vadodra and Visakhapatnam, and over 150 ATMsacross the country. HSBC has a credit card base of over one million customers inIndia and is one of the leading merchant acquirers in the Indian credit cardindustry. 2. The HSBC GroupThe HSBC Group is one of the largest banking and financial servicesorganisations in the world. The Group has over 9,700 offices in 77 countries andterritories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle Eastand Africa, serves over 110 million customers and had assets of US$1,467 billionat 30 June 2005. 3. Advisors to HSBCHSBC Securities and Capital Markets (India) Private Limited were advisers toHSBC Asia Pacific Holdings (UK) Limited on this transaction. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange