Singapore’s Temasek, GIC set to raise stakes in ICICI Bank

Temasek Holdings and the Government of Singapore Investment Corp. (GIC), two investment arms of Singapore, have made aggressive bids for the ICICI Bank Ltd’s public issue that was subscribed 5.18 times on the third day.

The per-share pricing of the issue is expected on Friday after it closes.
Temasek, through its investment arm, Allamanda Investments, already has a 7.34% stake in the bank, while GIC has a 2.24% stake.Temasek and GIC’s combined stake will go well beyond 10% after the issue.

Under the Indian banking law, no single entity is allowed to hold more than 10% stake in a bank. Until recently, the Indian central bank was treating Temasek and GIC as one entity as both of them are Singapore government’s arms and did not allow them to hold more than 10% in the bank, jointly.

For the domestic part of ICICI Bank’s issue, the qualified institutional buyers subscribed 10.38 times on Thursday, but the retail portion was subscribed only 10.27%.Retail investors trickled in on the third day of the issue, putting in bids for 3.37 crore shares against 32.8 crore reserved for them.

Read more in The Livemint article.

Temasek, Singapore GIC eye 40% of ICICI Bank public issue

Temasek and Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) are looking at cornering a little less than 40% of the fresh public issue of ICICI Bank. This would involve an investment of around Rs 8,000 crore. Temasek has already put in an application of Rs 8,300 crore — the maximum possible — on Tuesday when the issue opened for subscription.

Though retail investors are yet to step in, the issue was oversubscribed 2.7 times on the first day, thanks to demand from institutional investors.

The Singapore government arms may face some competition from government-owned institutions in the Middle East. State-owned entities from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar are also said to looking at subscribing to the issue.

The RBI has allowed the two Singapore government arms to pick up 10% stake each in the country’s largest private sector bank. Incidentally, four Middle East government-led institutions are also said to be looking at subscribing to a significant portion in the $5-billion issue, half of which would be raised from the local market.

Other overseas institutional investors who may subscribe include Capital International, T Rowe Price, Legatum Capital and Aberdeen. Temasek and GIC together hold 9.61% stake in ICICI Bank — Temasek through Allamanda Investments has a 7.37% stake while GIC owns 2.24% equity.

Read more in The Economic Times article.