ICICI Pru gains 7% in 2 days after Government of Singapore buys 1.14% stake

On June 22, ICICI Bank divested 21.5 million equity shares, representing 1.50 per cent stake of ICICI Pru, for Rs 840 crore for strengthening its balance sheet.

Shares of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company (ICICI Pru) were up 3 per cent at Rs 419 in the early morning deals on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday. The stock has gained 7 per cent in the past two trading days after the Government of Singapore acquired a more than 1 percentage equity stake in the company through open market transactions on June 22.

The Government of Singapore bought 16.43 million equity shares, representing 1.14 per cent of the total paid-up equity capital of ICICI Pru, at Rs 391.6 per share on the NSE, the bulk deal data shows. ICICI Bank, the country's second-largest private sector lender, sold 21.5 million shares at Rs 391.6 per share, the data shows.

“The Bank today divested 21.5 million equity shares of the face value of Rs 10 each of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company, representing 1.50 per cent of its equity share capital at March 31, 2020, on the stock exchange for an approximate total consideration of Rs 840 crore for strengthening Balance Sheet,” ICICI Bank said in an exchange filing on Monday.

Following this, the bank’s shareholding in ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company stands at approximately 51.4 per cent. ICICI Bank held 52.87 per cent stake in the life insurance company at the end of March 2020 quarter, the shareholding pattern data shows.

At 10:08 am, ICICI Pru was trading 1.7 per cent higher at Rs 413.90 on the NSE, as compared to a 0.29 per cent rise in the Nifty 50 index. A combined 2.1 million equity shares changed hands on the counter on the NSE and BSE till the time of writing of this report.