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A court in Mumbai (Bombay) has approved a 2:1 swap ratio merger between ICICI Ltd. and its affiliate bank, ICICI Bank Ltd. Some minority shareholders of the NYSE-listed ICICI Ltd. had petitioned the court against the merger, saying that the ratio of two shares of their company for one share of ICICI Bank favored the bank's equity holders. ICICI group still needs approval from the country's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, to proceed with the merger, but approval is expected soon. The merger, first proposed in October, will create India's largest private sector bank with assets of more than $20 billion, but still behind government-owned State Bank of India, which has some $62 billion in assets. ICICI Bank was founded eight years ago by long term lender ICICI Ltd. to focus on the short- term assets and retail credit businesses. --Josey Puliyenthuruthel www.TheDeal.com