Bank of Rajasthan (BoR) is set to merge with ICICI Bank, the country's largest private sector lender. Under the deal, ICICI Bank would give 25 shares for 118 shares (1:4.72) of BoR. The proposal was approved in-principle by the boards of the two banks. In a statement, ICICI Bank said it had entered into an agreement with certain shareholders of BoR.

- In what would make unit-linked insurance plans (Ulips) more investor-friendly, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) on Tuesday proposed to cap surrender charges and standardise the revival period for polices that had lapsed. In the draft guidelines, the regulator suggested the surrender charge during the first year of the policy be fixed at 12.5 per cent of the premium paid in case the policy term is less than 10 years. For longer duration policies, surrender charges are proposed to be capped at 15 per cent. At present, insurers levy up to 60 per cent surrender charge in the first year, which drops to 30 per cent in the second year.

HINDU BUSINESS LINE:

- Bank of Rajasthan is to be merged with ICICI Bank. The boards of both banks, which met separately on Tuesday evening, granted in-principle approval for the merger. In a statement, ICICI Bank said it has entered into an agreement with 'certain shareholders' of the BoR for amalgamation of the bank with itself with a share swap ratio of 25:118 (25 shares of ICICI for 118 shares of BoR).

- The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Tuesday asked the Government to put on hold any decision to link 2G spectrum price to 3G air waves till it further studied the subject. The regulator has informed the Government that it will undertake a separate consultation process on re-farming spectrum in the 900 Mhz band and therefore the Department of Telecom should await the recommendations on the same before taking any policy decisions.

ECONOMIC TIMES:

- The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has told the telecom ministry that two key recommendations that have attracted a lot of flak from many phone firms are still work in progress and suggested that the government wait for the finished report before taking any decision. In a letter on Tuesday to telecom secretary PJ Thomas, Trai chairman JS Sarma emphasised that the recommendation linking the price of 2G wireless spectrum to 3G makes clear that it is only an interim suggestion and a separate exercise is being initiated to further study the subject.

- Faced with angry regulators, the Tayal family, which controls Bank of Rajasthan (BoR), has decided to merge the old private sector bank with the country's second-largest lender, ICICI Bank. This would be the third acquisition by ICICI Bank in the last decade. Both the bank boards have given an in principle nod to the merger. ICICI Bank has started a due diligence exercise on BoR from Tuesday. ICICI Bank MD & CEO Chanda Kochhar said, "We have reached an indicative pricing with the promoters on a swap ratio of 25:118. (A BoR shareholder will receive 25 ICICI shares for every 118 BoR shares held.) This is, however, subject to due diligence. Our understanding of the strategic value is that it would have taken us three years to build the current account and savings account relationships. Also, the deal prices the market capitalisation per branch in the range of around Rs 6.5 crore, which is similar to other old private sector banks.

FINANCIAL EXPRESS:

- The empowered group of ministers on telecom (eGoM), headed by Pranab Mukherjee, which resolved the 3G auction issue, will look into the 2G spectrum price recommendations. The Union finance minister confirmed the plan. Let us analyse the recommendations of the regulator. I will then discuss it with my colleagues in the eGoM and we will take the final call, he said, referring to the uproar over the recommendations on the spectrum made by Trai. The recommendations have been slammed by most leading telecom service operators, including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone-Essar, which have called them perverse and arbitrary and strongly urged the government to reject them.

- ICICI Bank will take over the crisis-ridden private sector Bank of Rajasthan. On Tuesday, Bank of Rajasthan announced its board has approved the merger. The board of ICICI Bank too gave in-principle approval for the amalgamation. For India 's second largest bank, this will be its fourth acquisition since 2001. It had acquired Sangli Bank in Maharashtra in 2007 and comes surprisingly fast after a year, when it was forced to contract its balance sheet in the wake of the global financial crisis. ICICI Bank has offered a swap ratio of 1:4.72 for the deal25 shares of ICICI Bank for 118 shares of Bank of Rajasthan. This, said a release issued by ICICI Bank, is based on an internal analysis of the strategic value of the proposed amalgamation.

THE TIMES OF INDIA

- Bank of Rajasthan (BoR) will be merged with ICICI Bank. A decision to this regard was taken on Tuesday by both the banks. According to ICICI Bank, the share swap ratio has been fixed at 25 shares of ICICI Bank for 118 shares of Bank of Rajasthan. ICICI Bank has entered into an agreement with Tayal family of BoR to effect the amalgamation with a share exchange ratio of 25 shares of ICICI Bank for 118 shares of Bank of Rajasthan. This is based on an internal analysis of the strategic value of the proposed amalgamation, average market capitalization per branch of old private sector banks and relevant precedent transactions, ICICI Bank in a statement said. The proposed merger would substantially enhance ICICI Bank's branch network, already the largest among Indian private sector banks, and especially strengthen its presence in northern and western India.

HINDUSTAN TIMES

- The diversified Godrej Group is on an acquisition binge. With three acquisitions Tura in Nigeria, Megasari in Indonesia and 51 per cent stake in Godrej Sara Lee worth around Rs 2,500 crore already in the bag during the first five months of 2010, group chairman Adi Godrej is now eyeing a company in the Latin America and Sara Lee's global household insecticide business.

This is part of our three-by-three strategy for global expansion in three areas household insecticides, soaps and hair colours, in three continents of Asia, Africa and Latin America, Godrej said. He declined to give the sizes of the upcoming acquisitions.