Confirming the development, BoB chairman K Kannan said that the depreciation of the rupee will ensure Rs 10 crore to Rs 15 crore profit for the two sellers.

The chiefs of the three banks met here on Tuesday to finalise the deal, which was on the cards since the past two years.

Though, in principle, all the three had agreed for a single ownership to BoB, the price issue could not resolved earlier, Kannan said.

In a simple transaction, BoB will pay both the banks in Hong Kong dollars without disturbing the current capital of IBU International.

For this purpose, after receiving the permission from the Reserve Bank of India and the Government of India, the bank will release rupee resources from its domestic operations to buy Hong Kong dollars, which will be paid to both the banks.

``The expenditure will be shown as an investment in foreign subsidiary in the 1998-99 balance sheet,'' an official said.

IBU International Finance was set up in the early 80s with equal contribution from the three banks.

Single ownership of the institution was necessary in the event of the transfer of Hong Kong to the Chinese government.

``The local authorities had found the idea of single ownership more suitable for supervision purpose,'' the official said.

IBU International only accepts deposits and has marginal exposure in local trade financing.

BoB is expected to prepare a detailed plan for the growth of the institution soon.

Ruling out immediate infusion of capital in the institution, the official said that it has a capital adequacy ratio of over 25 per cent.

Meanwhile, BoB is also finalising the details to take over the assets and liabilities of the London branch of the Calcutta-based United Commercial Bank.

The bank has a network of 39 overseas branches spread over 11 countries. It has majority holding in its subsidiaries in Kenya and Uganda. The bank also jointly owns Indo-Zambian Bank Ltd, Lusaka.

During 1997-98, the bank had recorded a net profit of over Rs 60 crore from its overseas branches. While the bank's overseas deposits reached Rs 4,500 crore during the year, advances stood at Rs 2,400 crore.