28 April 2002

ICICI transfers AMC, Infotech stakes to Ventures
Mumbai: ICICI has bought down its stake in Prudential ICICI Asset Management Company and ICICI Infotech to less than 30 per cent.

ICICI has transferred its stake of over 30 per cent in these two companies to an equity fund of ICICI Ventures Fund Management Company Ltd. ICICI's stake in the AMC business was pegged at 45 per cent with the remaining being held by Prudential. In the infotech company, ICICI's stake was at 92.3 per cent with the remaining stake being held by Emirates Bank Group.

The merged entity can now hold on to ICICI's stake in Federal Bank and South Indian Bank. ICICI's stake in Federal Bank is pegged at 21.38 per cent and in South Indian Bank at 11.38 per cent.

Bank of Punjab plans 40 forex bureaus
Chandigarh: Bank of Punjab plans to open a host of foreign exchange bureaus keeping the NRIs and expatriates in mind, especially from the Doaba belt in Punjab.

The bank has already made a beginning in this respect and opened a foreign exchange bureau at a Jalandhar branch.

Before the end of 2002, BoP would have in place around 30 on site and another 10 off site foreign exchange bureaus. Of the 30 on site bureaus, as many as 25 will be opened in Punjab alone.

UCO Bank plans IPO
Kolkata: UCO Bank is targetting Rs 100,000 crore business in the next five years and has plans to go in for initial public offer in the year 2003 to raise capital.

UCO bank, which is celebrating its Diamond Jubilee during the current fiscal, achieved Rs 40,000 crore business during 2001-02, a growth of 25 per cent over previous year.

The bank aims to reach a business of Rs 50,000 crore by the end of 2002-03.

7 new directors on ICICI board
Mumbai: The board of directors of ICICI Bank has approved the appointments of seven additional directors on the board of the bank with effect from 1 May, the effective date of merger of ICICI with ICICI Bank. ICICI will cease to exist from 1 May.

The list of new directors on the board of the bank include Ashok Leyland managing director R Seshasayee, General Insurance Corporation chairman D Sengupta, Marti G Subrahmanyam, professor of finance at Stern School of Business, US, Lakshmi Mittal, chairman and CEO of LNM Group, Anupam Puri, management consultant, and two executive directors of ICICI - Kalpana Morparia and S Mukherji.

The other members on the board are N Vaghul, P M Sinha, Uday M Chitale, Somresh R Sathe and Satish C Jha. Two members of the board had put in their papers sometime back B V Bhargava and R Rajamani.

The board also approved the appointment of K V Kamath and Lalita D Gupte who are currently non-wholetime directors as managing director and CEO and joint managing director, respectively.

Morparia and Mukherji will also become executive directors of the merged entity from the effective date.

H N Sinor, who is currently the managing director of ICICI Bank, has been re-designated as joint managing director.

27 April 2002

Can Fin Homes posts Rs 20-cr net profit
Bangalore: Can Fin Homes Ltd has posted a net profit of Rs 19.81 crore for the fiscal ended 31 March 2002. The Q4 net rose to Rs 5.54 crore. The board has recommended a dividend of 25 per cent.

Loan sanctions in 2001-02 touched Rs 401.22 crore while disbursements stood at Rs 354.19 crore. Cumulative sanctions by Can Fin Homes total Rs 2,337.02 crore while cumulative disbursements were at Rs 1,909.25 crore as on 31 March 2002, according to a press release issued here.

Kamath appointed ICICI Bank MD, CEO
Mumbai: ICICI Bank has reconstituted its board, appointing K V Kamath as managing director and chief executive officer and Lalita Gupte as joint managing director. Earlier, both Kamath and Gupte were non-whole time directors of the bank. The reconstitution follows approval of the merger of ICICI with ICICI Bank.

The board at its meeting on 26 April 2002 also approved the appointments of Kalpana Morparia and S Mukherji as executive directors and approved the re-designation of H N Sinor as joint managing director. The appointments are effective from the date of the merger and subject to RBI approval, a bank press release said.