SBI takes aggressive stance in corporate finance mkt

The country\'s largest lender State Bank of India (SBIN.NS : 2242.9 -11.75) after firming up its position in retail finance by offering cheapest loans is getting aggressive in corporate finance including MandA segments.

Though earlier the bank was participating in the MandA finance, of late when the other private sector banks major like ICICI Bank (ICICIBANK.NS : 850.9 -14.6) and HDFC are not so active in this market because of strategic slow down in their credit off take, SBI is taking this opportunity to flex its muscle in this segment.

The bank recently has successfully negotiated two big-ticket deals Bharti MTN deal and providing loans to Kingfisher Airlines to meet its immediate cash needs.

The bank, according to a senior SBI official, has offered a loan of up to $1 billion to Bhart Airtel (BHARTIARTL.BO : 283.65 +2.65), which is already a prime customer of the bank to partly fund the acquisition cost in South Africa-based MTN group.

Sources said the bank which is now considering many deals has offered a loan for between between 3 and 5 years to fund the deal.

Bharti Airtel had approached the country\'s largest lender, SBI for loans of $1.05 bn.

Some foreign banks including Standard Chartered bank will also join SBI in funding the deal

The deal betweem Bharti-MTN aims to create the world\'s third-biggest wireless group with more than 200 million subscribers and combined revenue of $20 billion.

Meanwhile the bank has agreed to provide Rs 500-crore to Vijay Mallya controlled Kingfisher airline which is is in discussions with several banks to raise at least Rs 2,000 crore.

SBI is expected to have cleared a three-year term loan of Rs 500 crore for the airline.