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

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (236)	2/24/2000 4:29:00 PM
From: Mohan Marette	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 494

ICICI among firms eying Indiaserver (Friday, February 25, 2000) James Mathew in New Delhi In yet another mega internet deal in the making, domestic corporate majors such as Tatas, Escorts group, BPL, Max group and ICICI are in the race to pick up a significant equity stake in Indiaserver.com, the non-resident Indian promoted second largest India specific portal. According to sources close to the deal, MTNL and the Mittals of the Bharati group were also in talks with Dinesh Ahluwalia, the New York based NRI promoter of Indiaserver.com, but dropped out apparently due to the 'high valuations'. Sources said Ahluwalia proposes to sell off about 20-40% equity in the portal venture to the prospective Indian partner. The valuation for the stake on the bloc is understood be about $40-42 million. Indiaserver.com, headquartered in New York, is a horizontal portal and claims to have about 12 million page views per month. Indiaserver.com also has an exclusive arrangement with The Hindu daily for content providing. Indiaserver.com?s page view is just one million short of the reported 13 million page views per month of Indiaworld Communications Ltd which was bought over by Satyam Infoway in a $115 million all cash deal. Sources said Ahluwalia's move on the stake sale is aimed at inducting a strong and established Indian corporate as a strategic Indian partner in the portal venture which will add brand value to the company. The Tatas promoted ISP India Ltd, ICICI Venure and Max Group are understood to be currently the front runners for the stake acquisition in Indiaserver.com, for which negotiations are now at a very advanced stage. The deal is expected to be finalised in a fortnight's time, sources close to the deal said. -Business Standard