AU Small Finance Bank's MD & CEO has sold 25 lakh shares

Mr. Sanjay Agarwal, MD & CEO of AU Small Finance Bank Limited, "In reference to the above, I wish to hereby apprise you that on Friday (15/05/2020) and Monday (18/05/2020), I have sold a total of 52,19,186 shares as mentioned above to a set of high quality financial, strategic and sovereign investors. The same is done to fully repay my and my family's loan against shares amounting to ~Rs 165 crore approx. and towards my COVID-19 related personal commitments which I had already expressed. Moreover, please note that these investors are expected to bring in a lot of add-ons for bank's business and strategic empowerment.

It is extremely important for me to outline that AU has been my only passion and profession for the last 25 years and will always be. As a first-generation entrepreneur, I have never sold any of my or my family's hard-earned AU shares unless it was absolutely necessary for the sole purpose of taking AU to the next level. That said I must thank all my stakeholders for partnering with me and standing by me over these 25 years.

It is again with the same principle of always putting AU first that today despite macro and conditions not being fully idealistic and despite the availability of sufficient margin against my loan against shares obligation that I have thoughtfully chosen to go ahead with retiring my / family loan against share obligations.

Post the aforesaid transactions, me and my family continues to hold ~29.13% shareholding in the bank and will be free from any pledge / encumbrance. I would like to emphasize and add that that I don't foresee any further selling by me / my family (promoter and promoter group) in AU Bank in foreseeable future. Just for record, out of aforesaid ~29.13% unencumbered shareholding, ~26% is under lock-in till Apil'2022 as per regulatory stipulation.

Further, as we all know that in today's unprecedented unseen times, it is extremely critical that every bank stands tall and solid to weather this storm. At AU also we are building ourselves in manner that our commitment, focus and rigor, is always well aligned to the need of hour and our overall strategy. I see that India is gradually going towards a balanced normalcy, a number of things are allowed to work with caution. I feel we are quite well placed to contribute, help, and support. And in this process, I expect AU to become more resilient and prosperous as it has always been in the past 25 years.

As you know, I always take a lot of inspiration from cricket and I always believe that in a tough situation, if a player keeps his calm, play safe then he often comes out to be a matchwinner. To conclude, I would once again assure all the stakeholders, regulators, financial institutions, customers, employee and all of you that that my 100% commitment, passion and perseverance has always been for the betterment of AU and society at large and will always be.

Look forward for your untiring trust and support in times to come to collectively take AU and mankind to newer heights."

Shares of AU Small Finance Bank Ltd was last trading in BSE at Rs.418.6 as compared to the previous close of Rs. 418.75. The total number of shares traded during the day was 2719017 in over 3270 trades.

The stock hit an intraday high of Rs. 439.65 and intraday low of 415. The net turnover during the day was Rs. 1129975430.

Source : Equity Bulls

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