India's ICICI Bank Makes $4.3 billion in Share Offering

An India-based bank that owns one of the largest providers of off shore call centers for collection agencies raised $4.3 billion in an international stock offering this week .

ICICI Bank raised $2.14 billion from American depository receipts (ADR) sold at $49.25, and another $2.15 billion from selling shares in India valued at $23.10 each. Each ADR represents two Indian shares. The ADRs are listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The Indian shares are listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India.

The bank’s subsidiary, Firstsource Solutions Ltd., operates inbound and outbound call centers offering customer care, transaction processing and other back-office services, including debt collection. Firstsource runs 24 centers in India, the U.S., United Kingdom and Argentina. Clients include five of the 10 largest U.S. credit card companies, three of the five largest U.S. banks and three Fortune 100 healthcare companies, according to its Web site. In January it bought BPM Inc., a healthcare claims adjudicator based in Delaware.

Milwaukee-based Metavante Corp. holds a nearly 20.2 percent stake in Firstsource.

Mumbai-based ICICI Bank has 950 branches and 3,300 ATMs in 17 countries. It reported assets of $79 billion at the end of the first quarter.

Forbes.com reported investors in the stock offering this week included the State Bank of India, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Warburg Pincus and the Government of Singapore Investment Corp.

ICICI plans to use some of the proceeds to expand in rural India where 60 percent of the population lives, according to Forbes. ICICI Bank’s Chief Financial Officer Vishakha Mulye told Forbes the bank will introduce a system where customers use smart cards that allow them to bank with local shopkeepers and nonprofit groups.