Mumbai: Bank of Baroda (BoB) has announced that it will be going for a of 9.1 crore equity shares in January 2005 to raise around Rs1,500 crore.

“The bank board has approved an offering of 9.1 crore shares of Rs10 face value and we have approached the government and Reserve Bank of India for their approvals. We hope to visit the market in January or February next year,” said PS Shenoy, BoB chairman and managing director said at a press conference.

“The bank wants to get ready for meeting the Basel II norms for operational and market risks, and business expansion,” said Shenoy. The public sector bank wants to have a sufficient cushion for capital adequacy post Basel II guidelines when they become operational, he added.

Currently, the capital adequacy ratio was 13.97 per cent and with the market and operational risks in place, it could come down to 10.5 per cent.

Post offer, the government’s stake in the bank would come down to 51 per cent. The public offer would help the bank to shore up its capital adequacy ratio further, he said adding BoB has no plans to raise the tier II capital by issuing bonds.