Stock Watch

The second in command amongst India's lenders ICICI Bank (ICBK. BO) has set its base rate for loans at 7.5 percent which comes into effect from Thursday, as part of a new rule to set minimum lending rates.

The market environment of Home Loan Space has changed; keeping that in mind LIC Housing Finance Limited has announced three different products with varied options which will enable the customers to choose the appropriate one.

After a long tussel and dramas, the merger deal between ICICI bank and Tayal family-owned Bank of Rajasthan (BoR) is expected to be over by July-end.

This information was given by one of the sources close to the deal. The current situation of the deal is not very clear because of the legal issues involved in it along with the employee unrest.

Meanwhile, the board of BoR met on Thursday and has sent the merger proposal to the RBI.

The deed of Bank of Rajasthan was dramatic when it first cancelled a general meeting in Mumbai following a stay order by a court in Kolkata. After this incident the shareholders themselves decided that they need to convene and vote on the merger proposal with ICICI bank. The outcome is yet to be known. ICICI bank got the stay order vacated by the Kolkata high court just minutes after the voting.

Adding another twist to the takeover story between Bank of Rajasthan (BoR) and ICICI bank, BoR's shareholders defied the call of management to call off an EGM and go ahead with their voting.

The EGM or the Extraordinary General Meeting was first called by the BoR management and later called it off. They brought a stay order from a court on the same.

The incident took place just moments before the EGM was to start. At this moment, the Company Secretary said that the management has got a stay order and do not want the voting to take place.

ICICI bank has taking up some rumours very seriously and has taken steps against those individuals who spread the rumours of a $1-billion US lawsuit against the bank that brought down the bank’s share price by 3.5%. The ICICI bank has filed complaints against the individuals who spread rumours to the Economic Offences Wing and SEBI.

The officials of ICICI bank said that they tracked down the individual rumours and that these rumours must have been started by those who got a gain due to the low share prices.

ICICI Bank is evaluating its options to launch a $100 million fund to provide growth capital to small and mid sized companies. As revealed by sources, the fund will be managed by the bank's 100 per cent subsidiary ICICI Investment Management Company Ltd.

Known as the emerging fund, the new fund has already received strong commitments worth $50 million from some reputed institutions, the bank's spokesperson informed on Friday.

It has been reported that today, after departure with profits at early morning, private sector lender ICICI Bank's shares settled 0.34% down at Rs. 832 on BSE, this was a day after it received sanction from the board to amalgamate with the Bank of Rajasthan.

But in contrast, the Bank of Rajasthan rose 10 per cent to close at a one-year high rank of Rs. 158.80 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. It is said that 84% has been gained by BoR in the preceding five trading sessions.

The merger proposal between the boards of ICICI Bank and Bank of Rajasthan was cleared as the two met in Mumbai on Sunday. ICICI Bank will be acquiring an old private sector bank for the third time. In order to approve the deal, both the banks have called for a general meeting of shareholders on June 21 to approve the deal.

ICICI Bank MD & CEO Chanda Kochhar revealed that they required shareholders’ along with RBI’s approval and that FIPB nod is not applicable, as per legal advice.

Followed by the proposed acquisition of Bank of Rajasthan by ICICI Bank, shares of a number of small and medium private sector banks rose during the last week. With this, the probability of more mergers and acquisitions aroused.

In particular, shares of Bank, Dhanalakshmi Bank, Federal Bank and IndusInd Bank surged by up to 10% against a 3.23% dip in the previous week in Sensex.

The employees of Bank of Rajasthan (BoR) have informed that they have launched an agitation to protest against the banks proposed merge with ICICI Bank. Earlier it was in news that the country's largest private sector bank, ICICI Bank and the BoR are going for a merge soon.

The ICICI Bank has announced that it has entered in to an agreement with the shareholders of BoR for the merge. However, there has been no reaction from the Jaipur-based lender.