Oil marketing company Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) has picked up 21% stake for Rs 251 crore in FINO Paytech in an all cash deal, according to a BSE notification. With this, FINO Paytech has reduced its foreign shareholding to comply with the Reserve Bank of India's guidelines for a payments bank. Other major shareholders in FINO include Intel Capital, The Blackstone Group, ICICI Bank, the IFC and HAV3 Holdings. The transaction is expected to be completed by December 2016. The Blackstone Group holds about 20% while Intel Capital and IFC hold 15% each in FINO Paytech, as indicated by this Economic Times report. According to the RBI’s guidelines, the foreign shareholding in the payments bank would be as per the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy for private sector banks. The aggregate foreign investment in a private sector bank from all sources will be allowed upto a maximum of 74% of the paid-up capital of the bank. FINO Paytech may also be considering at least one more round of fund infusion through stake sale before it launches the bank in about six months, as indicated by this PTI report. FINO and BPCL will develop a payments ecosystem for the latter's customers and fleet operators. BPCL said that it is in the process of rolling out several customer service initiatives and will use FINO’s financial services delivery for both fuel and non-fuel products. Financials: For the year ended 2014-15, FINO posted a net profit of Rs 9.99 crore and had gross operational revenues of Rs 218.95 crore. It has…
