RBI to allow Temasek, Singapore Invt. arm to buy ICICI stake

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will allow Temasek and Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) to acquire 10% equity each in the country’s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank as a “one-off case”, as reported by Economic Times.

The regulator has taken a stand that this cannot be “quoted as a precedence” for the Singapore government’s investment arms and any other foreign investor to pick up stakes in other private sector banks, sources told ET. Even though the government has been in favour of allowing the Singapore entities to hold higher stakes in ICICI Bank, RBI had earlier said that Temasek and other investors associated with the Singapore government, like GIC and Monetary Authority of Singapore, were all ‘related entities’ and could together hold a maximum 10% stake.

The tussle between RBI and the Singapore government owes its origin to the Comprehensive Economic Co-operation Agreement between India and Singapore. The agreement says “...for investments into India’s capital markets, India shall regard GIC, Temasek and their investment vehicles as independent and unrelated legal entities, for the purpose of application of the Sebi legislation, including rules, regulations and guidelines governing investment limits on Foreign Institutional Investors...” Further, Annex 7 of the treaty says, “Each legal entity shall be allowed to purchase up to 10% or the prevailing threshold under these regulations, whichever is higher, of the issued capital of any company.” The Singapore investment arms were keen to participate in ICICI Bank’s issue in December ‘05. RBI had refused to make any exception for Temasek in the ownership guidelines for private banks, and had barred from further raising stake in the private bank.

ICICI plans India's biggest Public Offering;to be worth $4.3 bn

ICICI Bank Ltd. has filed documents with the market regulator SEBI seeking a public offer speculated to be worth 17,500 crore which may go up to 20,100 crore depending on the demand.

The bank which has hired Goldman Sachs and Merill Lynch to manage the offer said it would meet its next 3 years requirements assuming the banking system grows at 25%.It proposes to use the proceeds to meet the strong credit growth and also to usher the bank's inorganic growth ambitions.

Enam Financial Consultants and JM Morgan Stanley are also hired to see the deal through.

Source: www.livemint.com

ICICI Bank re-jigs i-banking operations

India’s largest private sector bank ICICI Bank has restructured its investment banking division, giving it a ‘global’ appellation and new functional lines. The reason cited for the exercise has been the global opportunities emerging through Indian corporates, and the bank’s need to grow beyond trade finance and working capital to corporate advisory, deal origination and M&A funding. Investment banking provided roughly 30% of ICICI Bank’s profit of Rs. 2285 crores in the nine months to December 31, 2006.

The restructuring of i-banking operations has been as follows: Corporate Products & Investment Banking Group has been renamed as the Global Investment Banking Group (GIBG). ICICI Securities, the existing wholly-owned investment banking arm of ICICI Bank, will now focus only on equity markets and research. The investment banking business of I-Sec will shift to GIBG, while the retail equity brokerage part of ICICI Bank, called ICICIDirect.com, is now a part of ICICI Securities. GIBG will have three groups under it: Global Structured Finance & Advisory Group (GSFAG), Financial Institutions and Syndications Group (FISG) and International Syndications Group (ISG).

GSFAG will be responsible for banking products across India and all international markets. FISG will work with GSFAG and ISG for domestic syndication, and with the Balance Sheet Management Group for resource-raising and securitization. It will handle the needs of financial institution clients. For deals where the approving authority requires an amount of the facility to be sold-down or syndicated in the domestic market, the FISG will approve the terms of the facility. It will also originate deals for sell-downs directly, along with GSFAG. FISG will include the Capital Markets Division and the Global Custodial Services Group of the bank. ISG will work with GSFAG and FISG for all international syndications of corporate issuances for Indian as well as international clients. It will approve terms for sell-downs / syndications in the international market and also, along with GSFAG originate deals directly for the specific purpose of sell-downs.

Read the article in DNA Money.

ICICI Bank to transfer stake in insurance and AMC businesses to new company ICICI Holdings

ICICI Bank will transfer its holdings in its insurance and asset management businesses to a new holding company called ICICI Holdings. The bank would transfer to ICICI Holdings its 74% equity holdings in ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company and ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company and 51% in Prudential ICICI Asset Management Company and Prudential ICICI Trust to the new entity.

The book value of ICICI Bank's investment in ICICI Prudential Life is Rs. 1300 crores, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Rs. 600 crores and in ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company and the trustee company is about Rs 50 crores.

The decision to move these assets to the new company was prompted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regulation that banks can invest a maximum of 20% of their net worth in subsidiary companies.

The bank has applied for approvals from the RBI and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) for transferring its stake in the insurance and mutual fund ventures.

ICICI Holdings may consider a public listing of its equity shares at an appropriate time to meet a part of the further capital requirements of ICICI Life and ICICI General. ICICI Bank intends to retain majority ownership in ICICI Holdings.

Read the Business Standard and The Economic Times articles.

ICICI Bank raises $500 mn via five-year bond

ICICI Bank has raised $500 mn (Rs. 2205 crores) through dollar-denominated five-year bond overseas. The bank will pay a coupon of 62 basis points above the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (LIBOR). Road shows for the issue were conducted in London, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Paris. Barclays Capital and Deutsche Bank AG were the lead managers to the issue. This is the second time that ICICI Bank is tapping the overseas market in 2007. In January this year, ICICI Bank had raised $2 bn through a bond issue in three tranches.

Read the article in Business Standard.

Mitsubishi UFJ Securities opens office in India

Reuters.com reports that Mitsubishi UFJ Securities, the investment banking and brokerage arm of Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, has set up its Mumbai office in India to offer corporate finance and capital market-related advisory to Indian corporates. Mitsubishi UFJ will focus on areas such as mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, asset management and fund raising in Japanese capital markets for Indian companies. Lat year, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with ICICI Bank to explore a non-exclusive alliance. Mitsubishi UFJ Securities also offers the PCA India Infrastructure Equity Fund in Japan, which has funds of $516 mn.

IFC to invest $300 mn in Indian ultra-mega projects; in talks with Tata Power

World Bank private equity arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), is in talks with Tata Power for providing long-term debt funding, along with other major ultra-mega power projects. Funding would be in the range of $200-300 mn. IFC is also looking at other infrastructure projects, especially in the road sector.

IFC is also looking at picking up equity stake and upper Tier-II instruments in the banking sector. It has recently invested $150 mn in ICICI Bank’s upper Tier-II bonds and $100 mn in HDFC Bank’s similar issue, and is open to more such investments in banks which will help them meet their capital requirements.

IFC already has a big-ticket exposure of over $100 mn in Tata Steel and Cairn Energy. It also has an RBI approval for raising $1 bn-equivalent of rupee funds. IFC has the fourth-largest exposure to India after Russia, Brazil and Turkey.

Read the article in The Economic Times.

IFC to invest $600 mn this year

International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private equity arm of the World Bank, intends to invest around $300 mn for the year ending June 30, 2007, reports The Economic Times. For the year ended June 30, 2006 IFC had invested $ 410 mn. The financial sector accounted for the largest chunk of IFC’s exposure in the first half of its financial year (July to December). Over 70% of IFC’s exposure will be through the debt route and the rest through equity stakes in Indian companies. The biggest chunk of $150 mn went into ICICI Bank’s Tier-II bond issue announced in October. Another $100 mn was invested in HDFC Bank’s Tier-II bond issue. Infrastructure is one of the priority areas for IFC, which is now keen on funding ultra-mega power projects. Healthcare is another focus area of the corporation.

Inter-Continental Exchange eyes ICICI Bank’s NCDEX stake; LSE, SGX approach Inter-connected Stock Exchange for stake

Inter-Continental Exchange (ICE), an exchange for energy derivatives wants to buy ICICI Bank’s stake in the National Commodities and Derivative Exchange (NCDEX). ICICI Bank is one of the promoters of NCDEX, along with the National Stock Exchange (NSE), Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and agricultural refinance bank, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). ICICI Bank is reportedly looking for a buyer for all or part of its 8% stake.

This comes in the wake of a massive consolidation in the domestic stock exchanges. Already, The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is discussing the possibility of acquiring equity in the Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX). The NSE has brought in New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as a partner with 5% equity. Meanwhile, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) is discussing a strategic partnership with Deutsche Bourse, SGX and NASDAQ. BSE is also negotiating for a stake in the Ahmedabad-based on-line exchange NMCE (the National Multi-Commodity Exchange) to gain a presence in commodity futures trading and improve its valuations. NMCE, in turn, may issue new shares to BSE to get additional funds for expansion.

Read the Business Standard article.
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NYSE, Goldman Sachs, General Atlantic, SAIF to buy 26% in NSE
Deutsche Borse, Singapore Stock Exchange in race to acquire BSE interest

In a related development, the London Stock Exchange (LSE), Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX) and some top private equity players have shown an interest in The Inter-Connected Stock Exchange of India (ISE), an exchange floated by a group of small exchanges, which is fast completing its revival strategy to attract global peers. The exchange will soon be presenting a proposal to SEBI about the future plans and product initiatives of the exchange. ISE has received a one-year extension to complete its corporatization till September 15, 2007. There is a possibility for this to happen as the SEBI plans to provide a third stock exchange platform to investors, especially for small and medium enterprises, which are located in tier-III or tier-IV cities. The valuation process of the exchange is expected to be over within three to four weeks. The ISE is promoted by 13 regional stock exchanges, which include bourses from Bangalore, Cochin, Bhubaneshwar, Hyderabad, Jaipur, and Mangalore. ISE has a network that covers nearly 134 cities across 25 states.

Read the Business Standard article.

FirstSource acquires US outsourcing company BPM for $30 mn; sells stake to US-based technology firm Metavante and hedge fund Galleon Partners

BPO company FirstSource Solutions, formerly known as ICICI OneSource, has acquired a Delaware-based healthcare claims' outsourcing company called BPM and its two wholly-owned subsidiaries MedPlans 2000 and MedPlans Partners for an estimated $30 mn. This is FirstSource’s second US acquisition after it had acquired Account Solutions Group In September 2004.

The acquisition will allow FirstSource to penetrate the healthcare vertical with capabilities in complex claims' adjudication. FirstSource will now offer clients database management, policy administration, claims processing and complex claims adjudication capabilities.

The company, by virtue of this acquisition, has also acquired a client portfolio that includes six Fortune 1000 companies and adds three centres in Rockford, Illinois; Fort Scott, Kansas and Louisville, Kentucky to its current 17 delivery centres globally which includes 11 in India, 3 in the US, 2 in the UK and 1 in Argentina. The company has a workforce of 9,018 full-time employees and 61 clients as of September 30, 2006. With this acquisition, the US headcount of FirstSource Solutions has risen to 800.

Read The Economic Times and Business Standard articles.

In a related development, the ICICI Group has divested around 19% stake in FirstSource to US-based banking technology solution provider Metavante and US hedge fund Galleon Partners in a pre-IPO placement. Metavante already holds an 11% stake in Firstsource which it had acquired in April last year through a combination of primary infusion and secondary purchase. The deal has been reported at $$75-80 mn; the ICICI spokesperson has confirmed the deal but declined to comment on its size.

Along with group companies ICICI Bank and ICICI Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Temasek Holdings also holds stake in FirstSource. Sequoia Capital has invested $17 mn in FirstSource for 11% stake and hopes to make $60 mn on its initial investment in the company’s upcoming IPO. Temasek Holdings has invested $50 mn for picking 11-12% stake in the company.

Metavante has picked up a 14% additional stake in the company, taking its total shareholding in the company to 25%. Galleon Partners has acquired 5.84%. FirstSource is planning a public issue of 95.6 mn equity shares, including a fresh issue of 60 mn equity shares and 35.6 mn equity shares, to be offered for sale by the ICICI Group.

Read The Economic Times article.