ICICI Bank which is coming out with a mega follow-on public offering (FPO) is planning to earmark as much as five per cent of the issue for existing shareholders despite the lacklustre demand for IPOs from retail investors. As the bank has proposed to raise Rs 8,750 crore from the market through the book-building route, shareholders will get shares worth Rs 450 crore in the issue.“The bank has decided to keep a 5 per cent reservation in the FPO for existing shareholders, who on the close of the business hour of June 13, 2007 hold equity shares of the bank, not exceeding in aggregate Rs 1 lakh in value,” it informed the stock exchanges. The value of the holding will be determined on the basis of closing price of equity shares on the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd on that date.The bank has filed the Red Herring Prospectus with Sebi and with the Registrar of Companies, Ahmedabad for the FPO,” it said. The ICICI Bank issue which is expected to hit the market soon will suck further liquidity from the market. DLF which has come out with a Rs 9,000 crore plus IPO has failed to evoke much response from retail investors in the first three days.The 5 per cent reservation is on top of the 35 per cent reserved for retail investors under the Sebi guidelines. Some of the earlier mega issues — including ICICI Bank’s previous mega issue — failed to get full subscription from retail investors.
