Centurion Bank of Punjab sinks after setting swap ratio for merger

Centurion Bank of Punjab declined 10.02% to Rs 50.75 on BSE at 10:59 IST after HDFC Bank set the merger ratio of Centurion Bank of Punjab with itself at 1:29.

The HDFC Bank announced the share swap ratio for merger before trading hours today, 25 February 2008.

Meanwhile, BSE Sensex was down 138.86 points or 0.80% to 17,210.21.

On BSE, 57.14 lakh shares were traded in the counter. The scrip had an average daily volume of 72.38 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 53 and low of Rs 50 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 75.25 on 7 January 2008 and a 52-week low of Rs 30 on 5 March 2007.

The mid-cap scrip had underperformed the market over the past one month till 22 February 2008, declining 0.44% compared to the Sensex's return of 0.74%. It had outperformed the market in the past one quarter, gaining 30.86% compared to Sensex's decline of 7.98%.

The bank's current equity is Rs 187.30 crore. Face value per share is Rs 1.

The current price of Rs 50.75 discounts its Q3 December 2007 annualized EPS of Rs 1.03, by a PE multiple of 49.27.

According to a release issued by HDFC Bank to the BSE today, the board of HDFC Bank today approved the share swap ratio of 1 equity share of Rs 10 each of HDFC Bank for every 29 equity shares of Rs 1 each held in Centurion Bank of Punjab.

CBoP's net profit rose 44% to Rs 48.27 crore on 71.8% growth in operating profit to Rs 730.67 crore on Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006.

Centurion Bank of Punjab provides banking and other financial services to corporate and private customers. It also provides personal banking, cash management, retail loans and other financial services.