Icici Sheds 0.4% Stake In Icici Bank

ICICI has sold 0.4 per cent equity stake in ICICI Bank in the secondary markets to institutional investors between April and August this year.

The financial institution's stake in the bank as on August 31, 2001, was pegged at 46 per cent.

Due to the acquisition of Bank of Madura by ICICI Bank, ICICI's stake was reduced from 62.2 per cent to 55.6 per cent in March this year.

Subsequently, it had sold 4.99 per cent stake to Prudential Assurance, a group company of the UK-based Prudential Plc, at a price of Rs 170 per share. ICICI also sold another 3.6 per cent to Capital International - a US-based foreign institutional investor.

The average price for the sale was at Rs 175 per share. With these stake sales, ICICI Bank had ceased to an ICICI subsidiary as of March 22, 2001.

ICICI, in its filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), dated September 28, said the sale of shares was made for a consideration of Rs 350 crore and the gain on sale was Rs 200 crore.

This dilution was in line with the Reserve Bank of India's directive that ICICI reduce its interest in ICICI Bank to not more than 40 per cent over a period of time.