The Hindu Business Line : SIB stake sale nets ICICI Bank Rs 7.6 cr profit

ICICI Bank has been a shareholder of the Kerala-based South Indian Bank for over a decade. In March 1995, two development finance institutions, ICICI and SCICI, bought 14.20 lakh shares each for Rs 8.52 each. The two institutions were merged in 1996-97.

ICICI Bank then picked up 12.33 lakh shares in the bank for Rs 30 a share in February 1998. It subscribed to South Indian Bank's rights issue in October 2004 and got 13.41 lakh shares for Rs 40 a share.

The average price for its 54.14 lakh shares works out to Rs 48.20 per share.

Recently, the bank sold 6.91 lakh shares in the market. It sold the remaining 47.23 lakh shares on Wednesday for Rs 64.25 a share, making a profit of Rs 7.58 crore in the bargain.

Buyer bullish

Meanwhile, India Capital Fund, which bought up 25.7 lakh shares of South Indian Bank from ICICI Bank, has said it is bullish on the Kerala-based bank. In an e-mail response to a Business Line query, the Fund's portfolio manager, Dr Jon Thorn, said: "We are very happy to be shareholders in South Indian Bank. We believe the bank is very well placed to become more efficient and more closely interconnected within its community."

India Capital Fund had earlier picked up a 3.08 per cent in South Indian Bank, subscribing to the bank's recent public issue.

The sale of 6.71 per cent stake of ICICI Bank in South Indian Bank raises the FII holding in the latter to 22.9 per cent. FII shareholders include Goldman Sachs (which bought 12 lakh shares from ICICI Bank to add to its earlier holding of 1.80 per cent,) The India Fund (1.8 per cent), ABN Amro (1.4 per cent) and Credit Suisse First Boston and Citicorp Global, 0.8 per cent each.