ICICI Bank to sell 4.2% in broking arm for Rs 726 crore

Mumbai: ICICI Bank is looking to sell around 4.2% stake in its broking arm ICICI Securities during this financial year. Given the current share price, the stake is worth around Rs 726 crore. This will be the third strategic value unlocking by the company during the year. In the first quarter, the bank had sold 3.6% stake in ICICI Lombard for Rs 2,250 crore and 1.5% stake in ICICI Prudential Life Insurance for Rs 840 crore.

Last week, ICICI Securities crossed its IPO pricing of Rs 519 after more than two years. Broking companies have been doing brisk business during the lockdown as retail participation has increased due to a sharp fall in interest rates.

The bank needs to sell at least 4.2% in order to bring its stake down to 75%, to comply with Sebi regulations. “ICICI Bank’s stake in our life insurance and non-life insurance subsidiary is just above 50%. If there is a long-term strategic opportunity, we will look at that, there will no longer be any more of the 1% stake sales,” said ICICI Bank president Sandeep Batra. ICICI Bank has announced plans to raise Rs 15,000 crore of equity capital to cushion its balance sheet against the impact of Covid-19.