India's ICICI Bank likely to raise record sales to $4.9 billion

India's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank is considering increasing the size of its record share sale by 15 percent to 4.94 billion dollars, officials said Monday. ICICI Bank said it raised 175 billion rupees (4.3 billion dollars) through the share sale last week, with an option to raise more funds.
The bank is likely to raise an additional 26.25 billion rupees (642 million dollars) through a 'greenshoe' option, based on demand seen for the sale, it said. ICICI Bank could raise the amount a month after listing the stock, likely in early July, a banker close to the issue said.
In India, the bank raised close to 2.15 billion dollars through the offer and an equal amount through American Depository Receipts. The Indian offer, which was oversubscribed 11.5 times, was priced at 940 rupees (23.1 dollars) a share while the American Depository share (ADS) portion was priced at 49.25 dollars per ADS, ICICI Bank said on the BSE website Monday.
"A deal of this size is a sign that India is coming of age in the international capital market," said Hemendra Kothari, chairman of DSP Merrill Lynch, lead managers to the issue. ICICI Bank already has shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Bombay and National bourses in India.
ICICI's shares fell two rupees or 0.21 percent to 951.7 at Monday's market close, after having risen 45.75 rupees or five percent in the past week. The bank will use the money to expand international and rural banking and offer more loans to consumers.
The fund portion of the ICICI offering was oversubscribed 21 times but retail demand was poor, with that portion oversubscribed just once. The sale was the biggest-ever for an Indian company, beating the record 2.3 billion dollars raised by state-run Oil & Natural Gas Corp in 2004. Two weeks ago, India's top real-estate firm DLF raised 2.24 billion dollars through its initial share sale.