Temasek picks 5.2% in ICICI Bank

Singapore-based Temasek Holdings (Pte) Ltd has picked up a 5.2 per cent stake in the ICICI Bank from the secondary market through its affiliate Allamanda Investments Pte Ltd.

Allamanda is an foreign institutional investor (FII) registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

With this, the Singapore government-owned institutions ""Temasek Holdings and GIIC "" now hold over a 10.7 per cent stake in the private sector bank.

About a fortnight back, Orcasia, the investment arm of the Canada-based Lombard Insurance Company, informed the private sector bank that it had sold half of its 8 per cent stake in the bank.

This could have been acquired by Temasek Holdings, whose sole shareholder was the ministry of finance, Singapore, market sources said. An ICICI Bank release said the acquisition had been approved by the bank's board as well as the Reserve Bank of India.

Among the FIIs, GIIC is the largest shareholder in the bank with a 5.57 per cent stake, followed by Temasek Holdings at 5.2 per cent, and with Prudential and Orcasia holding over 3 per cent each.

As on September 30, 2003, FII holdings in the bank stood at 42 per cent-43 per cent, against the stipulated government cap of 49 per cent.

Among Indian private banks, the ICICI Bank has the maximum foreign holding at 69 per cent, including a 26 per cent FDI component. Foreign holding in the HDFC Bank is pegged at 44.66 per cent, including FII holdings of 25.34 per cent.

The ICICI Bank stock price moved up to Rs 282.95 today on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) from yesterday's close of Rs 281.70. Since August this year, the stock has been moving up sharply from Rs 150-levels.