ICICI Bank fixes issue price band at Rs885-950

16 June 2007

Mumbai: ICICI Bank, India''s largest private sector bank, has announced a price band of Rs885 to Rs950 for its upcoming domestic public offer to mop up Rs8,750 crore - the largest ever share sale by an Indian entity at home and abroad.

The issue is part of the combined offer, wherein the country''s largest private sector lender would issue American depository receipts to raise an identical amount after getting necessary clearances.

The bank has an option of retaining an additional 15 per cent bids both from the domestic and international market - a move that could take the total mop up to Rs20,125 crore.

The lower end of the price band is at a discount of 2.5 per cent to the June 15 closing price of the bank of Rs908 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The upper end of Rs950, however, is at a premium of 4.6 per cent of that price.

Five per cent of the issue in the domestic market would be reserved for existing shareholders holding shares worth Rs1 lakh as of June 16, which is the record date for the issue. Individual investors will get a Rs50 discount, the bank said in an e-mailed statement.

ICICI estimates $500 billion of investment will be needed for infrastructure and manufacturing projects in India during the next three years, chief executive K.V. Kamath said in an interview on April 28. The government expects India''s $854 billion economy to grow 8.5 per cent in the year to March 31.