ICICI Bank cuts 2% in securities unit for ₹310 cr

NEW DELHI: ICICI Bank on Friday said it has sold 2% stake in its subsidiary firm ICICI Securities Ltd (I-sec) through an open market transaction for ₹310 crore.

ICICI Bank, the promoter of I-sec, has divested 64,42,000 equity shares of the face value of ₹5 each of the company on the stock exchange for an approximate total consideration of ₹310 crore, the private sector lender said in a regulatory filing.

The number of stocks divested represents 2 % of the total equity share capital of the company as of June 2020, it said.

The transaction of shares took place through an open market sale, the lender added.

“Following this divestment, the bank’s shareholding in the company stands at 77.22%,” it said.

Earlier on Wednesday, the board of directors of ICICI Bank had approved the sale of shares in the subsidiary firm to comply with the minimum public float requirement.

As per the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) norms, once a company is listed, its promoters are required to bring down their shareholding to 75% within a stipulated period to meet the minimum public float requirement of 25%.

ICICI Securities was listed on the stock markets in April 2018. The company offers services like broking, distribution of financial products, wealth management and investment banking. Shares of ICICI Bank was trading 4.04% higher at ₹408.30 apiece on the BSE. ICICI Securities gained 0.89% to ₹495.30 per share.