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Non-Tech : ICICI Ltd - (Nyse: IC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (17)	12/23/1999 2:27:00 AM
From: Mohan Marette	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 494

ICICI P/E is seven and it requires revaluation : Kamath The financial services firm ICICI Ltd's current market valuations are inappropriate, especially after its foray into e-commerce, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. K.V Kamath, said. "It (ICICI) is trading at a P/E (price-earning multiple) of 6-7. Now it is for the market to judge whether a company which is really talking a different language, e-commerce language, that's a fair valuation," Mr. Kamath told Reuters in an interview. "All I can say is I am trading at seven P/E, which to me does not look appropriate for the character that we are talking of." Asked what he thought was the right valuation for his New York Stock Exchange-listed firm, he said: "The best thing is to see where good global banks with proper e-commerce initiatives are trading at and at the other end where banks were trading at. Somewhere in between would be the right valuation." ICICI's shares closed on the Bombay Stock Exchange at Rs. 109.25. Charting a new course Mr. Kamath said the ICICI group was in the vanguard in harnessing new technology, especially the Internet, which would transform it to a technologically well-equipped organisation. ICICI had a separate wholly owned subsidiary, ICICI Infotech, to build e-commerce applications for the group, he said. Another subsidiary, ICICI Bank earlier this month entered into a joint venture with India's first private Internet firm, Satyam Infoway aimed at pooling their strengths. Mr. Kamath said the group had plans to enter Internet- based trading in big way and saw enormous opportunities from it. ICICI Web Trade, ICICI's 100 per cent subsidiary, will launch a product to enable stocks trading and other instruments on the Internet within eight to 12 weeks. "The regulator has indicated that in January they will be ready for announcing it (Internet stock trading)? as the regulator announces it, we would be ready for a beta launch," he said. "We have a unique advantage in Web trading? if we work synergistically, we have a group bank which will be holding accounts and the Web Trade Company has execution capability." Acquisitions a possibility: Mr. Kamath said the group was open to acquisitions as they enabled quick growth, but declined comment on reports its banking subsidiary was in talks to acquire other private sector banks. "You have physical limitations in terms of number of branches that you can open every year because of regulatory constraints," he said. "The only way to grow fast to the required number is through strategic fits on the brick and mortar side. "Speculation has been rife that ICICI is in talks with two private sector banks Centurion Bank and Bank of Punjab - for a possible merger with its banking subsidiary, ICICI Bank. The merger reports were sparked by last month's announcement by HDFC bank, which said it was merging with private bank, Times Bank. Source : MI Dec 23, 1999 walletwatch.com