Central Bank of India will enter capital market with an initial public offering (IPO) of 8 crore shares having a face value of 10 each.

The price band for IPO, which will open on 24 July 2007 and close on 27 July 2007, has been fixed between Rs 85 - Rs 102 a share.

The bank will raise Rs 680 crore at the lower price band of Rs 85 and Rs 816 crore at the upper price band of Rs 102 through the issue.

The bank has reserved 60% of the shares for the qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) and 30% of the shares for retail investors.

Post issue, the shareholding of the Union Government in the bank will come down to 80.20%.

The issue would help raise the bank's capital adequacy ratio by at least one percent from current 10.4%.

The Credit Analysis and Research (CARE) has rated the issue as 'CARE IPO 4', which indicates above the average fundamentals.

The issue proceeds will be utilised to augment the capital base of the bank to meet the future capital requirements and for other general corporate purposes.

Central Bank of India is considered to be the third largest bank in India in terms of the number of branches across 27 States and three Union Territories.

As on 31 March 2007, the bank has a domestic branch network of 3,194 branches comprising 1,341 rural, 759 semi-urban, 575 urban and 519 metropolitan branches.