SBI Mutual Fund, the country’s largest mutual fund (MF), is set to be listed on the stock exchanges. The executive committee of the central board of the State Bank of India had given its approval to selling a 6% stake in SBI Funds Management Private Limited through an initial public offering, said the bank in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.

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SBI Mutual Funds is a joint venture between India’s largest public sector bank and France’s Amundi Asset Management. SBI has a 63% stake in the venture and the remaining 37% is owned by the Paris-based company, which will put on sale a 4% stake.

According to a Bloomberg report,  SBI Mutual Fund is expected to raise around $1 billion through its IPO, valuing the company at around $ 7 billion. In FY21, SBI MF earned a profit of Rs 862 crore from a total income of Rs 1,619 crore.

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The IPO is a part of SBI’s strategy to monetize its non-banking subsidiaries. It had divested holdings in the life insurance and cards businesses last year. The SBI Cards & Payment Services IPO was launched in March 2020, just before the Covid-19 outbreak. The bank had raised Rs 10,354.77 crore through the stake sale. SBI had raised over Rs 8,400 crore in the SBI Life IPO.

The SBI Mutual Funds IPO will make it the fifth mutual fund company to be listed on the stock exchanges. HDFC Mutual Fund, Nippon Life MF, UTI MF and Aditya Birla Sun Life MF are other mutual fund companies that are  listed on stock exchanges.

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Mutual fund stocks have had a mixed performance this year. UTI MF has been the top performer with 87% stock price gains this year. Nippon Life MF also gained 17%. Aditya Birla Sun Life is down from its issue price by 19% and HDFC MF is down 17% this year. The Aditya Birla Sun Life MF IPO was launched on September 29, 2021.