ICICI Bank clarifies on Karnataka Bank stake holding rumors

ICICI Bank on Wednesday denied the media reports which suggested that the bank has purchased over 1% stake in Karnataka Bank.

A spokesperson of ICICI Bank said, “Some erroneous media reports have appeared that ICICI Bank has acquired 1.09% stake in Karnataka Bank. We would like to clarify that almost all of these shares are held by the bank on behalf of its equity broker clients as a security for our exchange clearing and settlement business.”

Shares of both ICICI Bank and Karnataka Bank tumbled on BSE.

Stock price of ICICI Bank tanked by nearly 2% trading at Rs 278. 50 a piece. 

While Karnataka Bank shares tumbled by nearly 5% trading at Rs 152.50 a piece. 

On Tuesday, news about stake purchase boosted shares of Karnataka Bank so much so that it soared over 9% touching a 52-week high of Rs 161.70 a piece. It's market valuation too shooted up by Rs 371.91 crore to Rs 4507.91 crore.

Karnataka Bank released it's latest shareholding patterns on BSE on April 10, 2016.