Mumbai, Aug. 28: Global banking giant HSBC today sold its entire 5 per cent stake in Kerala-based private sector lender Federal Bank for a little over Rs 341 crore through open market transactions, continuing its selling spree of its holdings in private banks.

According to data with the bourses, HSBC held 85.16 lakh shares, or 4.98 per cent stake, in Federal Bank through HSBC IRIS Investments Mauritius Ltd.

HSBC sold the shares for an average price of Rs 401.04, valuing the deal at Rs 341.53 crore, according to data available with the Bombay Stock Exchange. Shares of Federal Bank dropped 3 per cent to close at Rs 401.90 apiece on the BSE.

Meanwhile, Warhol, which held 24.12 lakh shares, or 1.41 per cent stake, in the Federal Bank at the end of the June quarter, bought 11.75 lakh shares for Rs 47 crore.

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, too, acquired 10.43 lakh shares of Federal Bank for Rs 42 crore.

Earlier in June, HSBC had offloaded its entire holdings in Axis Bank and Yes Bank for about Rs 2,425 crore through open market transactions.

HSBC, which held 4.75 per cent in Axis Bank through HSBC IRIS Investments Mauritius Ltd, sold the entire stake for about Rs 1,880 crore.

The UK-based entity also divested its 4.76 per cent holding in Yes Bank. At the time of the stake sale, the deal was valued at around Rs 550 crore.

Earlier this year, Citigroup sold its stake in housing finance major HDFC for nearly Rs 10,000 crore ($1.9 billion), while US private equity major Warburg Pincus offloaded its stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank for about Rs 1,350 crore ($274 million).

Federal Bank had reported a 30 per cent rise in net profit in the first quarter ended June 30 at Rs 190.35 crore against Rs 146.16 crore in the year-ago period. Total income rose to Rs 1,661.04 crore during the quarter from Rs 1,361.61 crore in the same period last year.