ICICI Bank to raise Rs 20,000 cr in June

Biggest fund-raising by an Indian firm: Rs 15,000cr public offer, Rs 5,000cr ADR.

ICICI Bank, the country's second largest bank, will raise Rs 20,000 crore in June this year - a combination of Rs 15,000 crore follow-on public offer in the domestic market and Rs 5,000 crore American Depository Receipts issue. This is the biggest-ever fund-raising plan by an Indian bank.

The bank will also consider exercising a greenshoe option, which could almost double the bank's net worth of Rs 24,313 crore as on March 31, 2007. 

BIGGEST OFFERS
Company name	Issue size (Rs crore)
ICICI Bank *	20000.00
ONGC	10694.50
NTPC	5368.15
Cairn India	5260.00
ICICI Bank	5200.00
TCS	4713.47
* FPO + ADR

The domestic and overseas issues would expand the paid-up equity by about 20 per cent, based on the bank's shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

ICICI Bank's shares closed 3.2 per cent down at Rs 933.65 yesterday on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Analysts expect the stock to decline over the short term because of the issue.

Apart from the requirement to support credit growth, the bank's capital needs would be higher as the revised stringent capital norms - popularly known as Basel-II - come into force this year.

K V Kamath, managing director and CEO, said, "We have to look at India in the context of the existing investment pipeline of $500 billion over the next three years. We would see doubling of the infrastructure and manufacturing capacity and we have to prepare ourselves for the future."

The bank is likely to use the capital to support credit growth for the next three years. This is the third capital raising by the bank since the erstwhile development finance institution, ICICI, merged with ICICI Bank. In October 2005, the bank had raised over Rs 8,000 crore through a combination of domestic and ADR issues.

"We expect to hit the market sometime in June," Kamath told reporters today.

The total foreign holding in the bank currently is 72 per cent, 2 per cent lesser than the ceiling of 74 per cent.

The ICICI Bank board today elevated Madhabi Puri-Buch, group corporate brand officer & head - operations, as executive director on the board.