State Bank completes acquisition of GTF

Country's largest lender State Bank of India on Monday said it has completed the acquisition of leading factoring firm Global Trade Finance (GTF). SBI had sealed the deal in January-end by picking up a 91 per cent stake in GTF for about Rs 525 crore. The bank acquired the stake from three promoters of GTF -- Export-Import Bank of India (40 per cent), International Finance Corporation (12.5 per cent) and Fim Bank Malta (38.5 per cent) while the remaining nine per cent is being held by Bank of Maharashtra. Global Trade is one of the country's biggest players with a marketshare of close to 40 per cent. SBI is already present in the factoring business through its company, SBI Factors and Commercial Services, in which it is the majority stakeholder. With this acquisition, SBI's marketshare increases substantially. "This acquisition is a part of SBI's overall strategy to be able to offer a full bouquet of services to its very large and diverse client base," SBI said in a release issued today. While SBI Factors, the first factoring company in the country, has been mainly focusing on domestic factoring, Global Trade has been extending export factoring services to its customers and is the largest export factor in the country. Following the acquisition, "State Bank expects both companies to complement each other and help SBI to consolidate its leadership in both SME business and export financing, where State Bank has traditionally had a strong presence," the release stated. The public sector lender said its strong domestic and international presence combined with its high brand equity were "expected to benefit the newly-acquired company."