INTERFAX. India’s biggest lender ICICI is exploring the option of buying assets overseas, since many foreign financial companies are in distress because of the global liquidity crunch, The International Herald Tribune wrote. The lending institution is also analyzing options how it could benefit from the fact that many Indian businesses are in search of funds they need to expand their operations outside India.
Like many other banks in the country, ICICI suffered the least from instability on the global financial market and it presently holds $5 bln of available funds for expansion overseas. This could imply the purchase of retail banks in the UK, Canada or Germany, the bank’s board member Sonjoy Chatterjee noted. Earlier ICICI planned to focus its foreign activities primarily on providing services to Indian clients who do business abroad. Now the bank is eager to form an international brand. «This opportunity is now under review just because of the current market conditions» — Chatterjee pointed out.
In turn, the bank’s chief executive officer K. V. Kamath added that although banks are cheap nowadays, «they’ve been undergoing serious changes». «And we need to get an understanding whether or not we want to take part in it» — he said.
Opposed to many other financial companies from China, Singapore or the Middle East, ICICI has no plans to snap up minority stakes in large foreign banks in the US or the UK. «We take no interest in this, as we’ll have no opportunity to influence decision-making» — Chatterjee noted. According to his estimates, presently Indian companies mull acquisitions for over $20 bln worldwide in a bid to benefit from the lower price of assets in developed economies.
